The Hindu 12.01.2010
Corporation to purchase 10 hand-held machines
Special Correspondent
| Move to augment and simplify tax collection |
It will result in a total expenditure of Rs.6 lakh
Once they are ready, assessees need not go to collection centres
VELLORE: The Vellore Corporation has decided to purchase 10 hand-held tax collection machines at a total cost of Rs.6 lakh in order to augment tax receipts and simplify tax payment and collection.
K.R. Selvaraj, Commissioner, Vellore Corporation, told The Hindu on Monday that out of the total tax demand for 2009-10, the Corporation had so far collected only 25 per cent. Previously, tax collectors went door to door and collected taxes. Later, the Corporation established five tax-collection centres in different parts of Vellore, including one at the Corporation office to collect the various taxes and issue computerised tax receipts. The public are remitting their property tax, profession tax and water tax at these centres.
Though this facilitated payment and collection of taxes, it did not help augment the receipts. Therefore, the Corporation decided to acquire handheld machines
Once the machines are ready, assessees need not go to the collection centres to pay their taxes since the tax collectors would themselves visit their homes and not only collect the taxes but also issue receipts on the spot.
The Commissioner said that an added feature of the handheld machines was that they were connected to the server in the Corporation office, and the moment a receipt is issued to an assessee in his house, the payment of tax would be recorded in the Corporation’s server.
Touchscreen kiosk
The Corporation also planned to install a touchscreen kiosk at a cost of Rs.3 lakh in the Corporation office, in order to enable the public to access all information about the services rendered by the Corporation, including the procedures to be followed for applying for a building licence, water connection and other services, information about the taxes due from the assessees, and information about the ongoing and future schemes of the Corporation.
The Corporation also planned to install a biometric machine at a cost of Rs.50,000 to record the attendance of the staff and the time of their reporting for duty.
This is expected to reduce the expenditure on buying attendance registers, besides ensuring punctuality among the staff and enable the officials to have details of the latecomers and absentees.
Resolution passed
The Corporation Council passed resolutions approving the purchase of the above machines at its meeting held last month.
The Corporation was taking steps to buy the handhld tax collection machines and install the touch-screen kiosk and biometric attendance-recording machine before the end of March.
All the machines would be acquired through the tender process, Mr. Selvaraj said.
