Now in Chennai, property tax collection affected by confusion over tax rates
Posted on: 25/Nov/2019 9:51:05 AM
Last week, Mr S.P. Velumani, the municipal administration minister, announced to withhold hike in the property tax. The latest news is Chennai Corporation is finding it difficult to collect property taxes from the people.
The people have pointed out that they were not allowed to pay their property taxes as per the old rates and that too after the announcement made by the government.
Ambattur zone resident expressed his thoughts regarding the property tax payment and spoke about how the new rate was high and how he did not pay the tax amount. He added that after the announcement made by the government he tried to pay the property tax as per the old rate but he was not allowed to pay the tax.
Another resident belonging to K.K. Nagar expressed his displeasure and spoke about how the officials refused to receive property tax payment according to old rates. The point is the officials insist that the GO has been issued. For the officials to accept the property tax payment as per the old rates, representatives of the resident’s welfare association had organised meetings on Sunday. As per Mr V.S. Jayaraman of Motilal Street Resident Welfare Association, the decision to withhold revision in the property tax following the complaints that revision is steep is welcome.
He explained how the committee must take the views of the resident`s associations before making recommendations. Till the committee comes out with its recommendations on the hike, property holders could pay their tax that prevailed in 2017-18. This was mentioned by the civic officials to the government. It must be noted that those who have paid their property taxes as per the new rates could get their amount adjusted subsequently.
It was brought out by former councillor Mr P.V. Tamilselvan that refusal of the Chennai Corporation officials to accept the payment of property taxes as per the old rates affected many residents. He threw light on how several residents were asked to make payments to MWD by the end of this month of November. He concluded that the water tax should also be revised as it is based on the property tax.
It was later mentioned by harbour MLA Mr Sekar Babu that the state government must refund the amount to the residents who have already paid the property tax. He spoke about how the announcement to withhold revision was made in view of local body elections and how after the elections the government could increase the property tax. He finally hinted that the taxpayers need clarification regarding this property tax payment issue.
Some officials belonging to the Corporation revealed that after a change in the system in a few weeks the residents would be able to pay property taxes at old rates.
