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Taxation

Record haul as corporation collects 650 crore property tax

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The Times of India      26.03.2017  

Record haul as corporation collects 650 crore property tax

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CHENNAI: With over Rs 650 crore earned so far, Greater Chennai Corporation has netted a record total in property tax collection for the fiscal 2016-17.

According to revenue department officials of the civic body, the city's 11.70 lakh assessees have contributed a little over Rs 654 crore so far, enabling the corporation to surpass its property tax collection target for the year. The sum collected so far also represents an increase of around Rs 70 crore from the last year.

Together with professional tax revenue, which crossed the Rs 240-crore mark, the collection is a significant increase in revenue generated by the local body. The professional tax collected so far is an increase of over 10% from the last year's figures. And with five more days to go before the end of the financial year, officials expect to add on to these numbers by a sizeable margin. "We expect to collect another Rs 20-25 crore property tax. The last two days are frantic usually because assessees turn up in huge numbers to pay their dues," said an official.

Despite a setback during cyclone Vardah, officials said they "worked hard", although there was staff shortage, to meet the target of Rs 650 crore set in the local body's budget document. Meanwhile, the central government's move to demonetise high value currencies in November 2016 also came as a blessing in disguise for the corporation.

"In a two-day period within the first week of demonetisation, we collected over Rs 25 crore property tax. We were able to clear a significant portion of the arrears as well within 15 days (of the announcement)," an official said.

Unlike the previous year, revenue officials also steered clear of controversies when attempting to get large sum defaulters to pay up. Last year, officials involved transgender people who played drums or dumped garbage at the doorstep of business or residence to call upon attention to the defaulter. These measures proved unpopular and attracted criticism for the local body. "We served them with notices and judiciously followed up all cases we could," a senior official said.
 

Chennai Corpn. makes no changes to property tax rates

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The Hindu        23.03.2017 

Chennai Corpn. makes no changes to property tax rates

More spending on stormwater drains

The Chennai Corporation Special Officer has passed the budget for 2017-2018 without making any new announcements on infrastructure development and welfare projects. The property tax rates will remain unchanged. The civic body has not changed the tax rates since 1998.

A senior official of the Corporation said the budget was passed on March 14. “We have not released the information on welfare measures because of the model code of conduct,” said an official.


According to budget estimates, the civic body is expected to spend more on stormwater drains in 2017-2018.

Chennai Corporation will receive a loan amount of more than Rs. 2,000 crore from various funding agencies, including the World Bank. The interest payment on loans is also expected to increase.

 

Tax evaders earn garbage dump, pay up 90% of dues

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The Times of India      20.03.2017

Tax evaders earn garbage dump, pay up 90% of dues

| | Updated: Mar 20, 2017, 07.25 AM IST
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MADURAI: The Ramanathapuram municipality has successfully collected its long pending tax dues from about 20 people by resorting to a novel method - keeping overflowing garbage dumps in front of the houses or shops of those evading tax dues. What has apparently helped the municipality have its way is the absence of an elected council whose members usually intervene for the tax evaders, mostly affluent people.

The authorities of this first-grade municipality with a population of 61, 440 spread over 6.33 sqkm across 33 wards had managed to collect '1.40 crore out of the '1.50 crore tax dues pending for the past five years. The town has a literacy rate of 93.07%. Municipality sources said that the outstanding dues worked out to about '1.5 crores mainly by way of property tax pending for about five years and other taxes for seven years.

Those who paid their taxes on time were mostly the economically weaker sections and they very rarely received notices. On the other hand, some affluent people who had some political clout had been evading tax payment for the past five years.

"We kept on issuing notices, but they were ignored. If we sent them notices warning of penal action, we would get phone calls from the chairman or the councillors asking us to refrain from further action,'' the sources said. Shantha (named changed) of Keeraikara Street in the municipality said that she had at first felt angry when the overflowing bin suddenly appeared in their street, but when workers told her that it was to collect long-pending dues she had agreed to put up with it.

Municipality commissioner A Abdul Rashid assumed office in September 2016 and was presented with a long files of pending dues. With the period of the council coming to an end the very next month, it was left to the commissioner, who also became the municipality's special officer, to collect the dues. Notices were issued and when there was no sign of the pending dues filling the coffers, the municipality resorted to placing garbage bins which were not emptied regularly.

"The bigwigs came and shouted at us and told us to remove it immediately. But they were politely informed that they would have to pay the dues if the bins had to be emptied. After some time, they started paying up,'' said a municipality worker. "The absence of a council and its members is one reason why collecting the dues has become easy, because their presence had only helped these evaders for the past five years,'' he said.

When contacted, commissioner Rashid said that he was confident of collecting 98% of the tax dues by the March 31 deadline. Till date '1.40 crore out of the pending '1.50 crore has been collected by the municipality.
 


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