The Hindu 07.01.2011
Property tax revision proposal put on hold
Decision to defer the proposed revision was taken at recent Cabinet meeting
The government has put on hold its decision to review property tax
structure for the time being. The decision to defer the proposed
revision was taken at the recently held Cabinet meeting, it was learnt
reliably.
As per the government’s advice, the Local Administration
Department had proposed to increase property tax for residential
buildings by 10 per cent and commercial establishments by 20 per cent as
part of its effort to mobilise internal resources.
The department had sent the proposal for consideration
and was included as part of agenda at the Cabinet meeting held a few
days ago. In view of the ensuing Assembly elections, the proposed
revision had been withheld, sources in the government said.
With government deciding not to revise the tax for the
time being and revenue collection falling short, the civic bodies,
particularly the Puducherry and Oulgaret Municipalities, are all set to
conduct special camps in the coming months to achieve the target set for
property tax collection.
The Puducherry Municipality has proposed to collect a
sum of Rs. 2.8 crore through property tax for 2010-11. It also planned
to collect an amount of Rs. 1.9 core as arrears accumulated during the
last several years. From April to November last year, the civic body
managed to collect Rs. 96.2 lakh, most of it came through special camps
held recently.
A major share of the arrears had to come from the Anglo-French Textiles and Swadeshee-Bharathee Textile Mills, officials said.
The Oulgaret Municipality proposed to collect Rs. 1.23
crore during the current financial year and another Rs. 3 crore as
arrears. As on November 2010, the municipality collected Rs. 1.12 crore,
a senior official told The Hindu.
Both the municipalities together collect tax for around
85,000 buildings, including residential and commercial establishments.
The authorities were of the belief that they would be able to improve
the tax collection in the days to come through special camps. The
municipalities have planned to conduct special camps on most of the
Saturday’s and Sunday’s in the coming months.
