CHENNAI: The Local Administration Minister K.P. Anbalagan on Thursday accused DMK joint general secretary M.K. Stalin of defending tax evaders.

The Minister said in a statement that the civic agency had revised property tax for 2,000 property owners last February after finding that they had under-declared their property value during the general revision of property tax in 1998-99.

Mr. Anbalagan said that contrary to what was being claimed by the DMK, the AIADMK-led council in the Corporation had not increased property tax. "The last time property tax was revised was in 1998. The DMK was in power then and Mr. Stalin was the Mayor who approved the property tax hike," he added.

Councillors and residents from George Town recently presented a memorandum to the Commissioner demanding withdrawal of the tax revision. Subsequently, Mr. Stalin had issued a statement saying the DMK would launch protests to condemn the move.

The former Mayor claimed that the civic administration had broken down and that demanding property tax arrears was not justified. Mr. Anbalagan said the Corporation had only targeted property owners with half-yearly property tax instalment over Rs.10,000. Property tax had been revised for 2,000 property owners. The Minister questioned why the DMK was keen on taking up the cause of the 2,000 tax evaders when there were 5.5 lakh tax assesses in the city. He charged the Stalin-led council with permitting tax evasion during its tenure.

Corporation sources said that that some of the persons who submitted the memorandum to the Corporation Commissioner recently had themselves received tax demand notices after their properties were found to be under-declared in the 1998 general revision.

A property owner on Angapa Naicken Street in Muthialpet, George Town had declared in 1998 the usage of land to an extent of 6,850 sq.ft translating to a half-yearly tax of Rs.19,424. However, during a spot verification last February, the civic agency revised the usage of land to 11,890 sq.ft. and revised the half-yearly tax to Rs. 42,567.

The half-yearly tax of a property on Aremenian Street was fixed at Rs.16,827 in 1998 based on the declarations of the property owner. This has been revised to Rs. 28,239 after Corporation officials found out inaccuracies in the self-declaration, the sources added.

Mr. Stalin has called for a protest on Friday against the Corporation's property tax demands.

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