Increased property tax paid by 62% of the property tax assesses in Chennai
Posted on: 23/Nov/2019 9:42:49 AM
The residents of Chennai have been complaining about the increase in their property taxes. The important point is this has not stopped them from paying their property taxes. It has been brought to light that 62 percent of the 12 lakh property tax assesses belonging to Chennai have paid their taxes in the first half of the financial year.
Information is when compared to the same time in the last fiscal year atleast 10% more assesses have paid their taxes in the first half of this year. This has been shown by the data from GCC. Last year, GCC collected atleast Rs 400 crores and it is now said that GCC had collected around Rs 700 crores in this year which is Rs 300 crores more. Point is this excess amount would not be of huge benefit to GCC because the rollback would make it poorer by around Rs 400 crores. It is now said that those who have paid revised tax would get extra money adjusted against the next payment.
According to an official, an increase in cashless payments has increased the collection and many have opted to pay online or at e-Seva centres. He then mentioned about the tax collectors who have gone to various houses with point-of-sale machines. The property taxes were too high and this was as per many residents of Chennai. It was revealed by the corporation officials that the property taxes collected in Chennai were less than Mumbai and Bengaluru.
An official belonging to the corporation explained how the taxes range from 50 paise per square feet for residential to 18 paise per square feet for commercial depending upon the street. He added that residents might pay many times this amount for their monthly maintenance.
Important point here is property taxes for core places in the Chennai city have not been revised since the year 1998 but the areas annexed to the corporation in 2011 like Ambattur zone Alandur zone had high property tax rates imposed by the erstwhile local bodies.
As per April 1, 2018, rates, the corporation of Chennai would be collecting property tax from the remaining 4 lakhs assesses. This was as per some sources.
