The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Municipalities told to collect property tax arrears by May 15

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Thursday, Apr 09, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Municipalities told to collect property tax arrears by May 15

K. Lakshmi

Commissionerate of Municipal Administration has set the deadline

Reluctance of tax payers following revision process is another reason for less collection

CHENNAI: The Commissionerate of Municipal Administration (CMA) has directed several municipalities in the western suburbs of Chennai to collect property tax arrears for the recently concluded fiscal by May.

Officials of the various local bodies said that they have intensified their drive to collect the tax as the Commissionerate has set a deadline of May 15. Most of the municipalities were able to collect only 60 – 70 per cent of tax for 2008-09 due to delay in the process of revision of the tax rates.

An official at the Ambattur Municipality said that though the revenue collection has gone up on the back of the increased rates, the mobilisation of the local body was only Rs. 19 crore in the fiscal as against the targeted Rs. 43 crore.

While all efforts were on to collect Rs.14 crore by May 15, collection of the remaining amount may be delayed due to litigation, the official said.

A senior official at Avadi Municipality said that the tax collection drive began only in January this year as the revision process took nearly six months. He added that the CMA’s directive on speeding up the collection of outstandings has been made to help the local bodies meet their expenditure.

Officials of the local body at Maduravoyal said that out of the targeted Rs. 1.09 crore property tax collection they were able to collect 70 per cent till March 31. The municipality has only one assistant revenue officer catering to nearly 16,000 tax assessees. As per the rules such officers must be provided for every 4,000 assesses, an official said.

Despite the administrative hiccups, the local body has managed to collect a major share of property tax in about two months, the official added.

Reluctance of the tax payers following revision process was another reason cited for the relatively less tax collection. Officials of Madhavaram Municipality said that though the tax rates were hiked by only 10 per cent, the local body was able to collect only 60 per cent of the targeted revenue from property tax.

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