No property tax, no water, warns Chennai Corporation

Chennai

Pay up or shift out. The Corporation of Chennai has asked the government for permission to cut water and power supply to property tax defaulters. The cash-strapped civic body has had enough with delinquent taxpayers and has decided to make it close to impossible for a defaulter to occupy a property, a senior official said on 29th October. Only 40% of property owners in the city pay tax for the premises they own.

Residents are expected to pay property tax once every six months, but the corporation allows defaulters to pay once a year with a fine. The corporation now proposes to prepare a list of defaulters every six months. “People can pay the tax within 15 days of the March 31 and September 30 deadlines,” said a resolution passed by the council on 29th October. “If they fail to comply, their addresses will be sent to Metrowater and the electricity board.” The power and water connections will be cut in 24 hours, the official said.

Govt depts among biggest defaulters

Corporation’s revenue officers said many people do not pay their taxes because no punitive action is taken against them. “If people fail to pay water or electricity bills within 15 days of the billing date, their connections are cut,” a corporation revenue official said. “Soon, if they do not pay property tax on time, they will face the same action.”

The corporation has consistently fallen short of its tax collection target by more than 100 crore every year. “We collected 162.57 crore from the seven old zones and 48.16 crore from the extended area for the April-to-September period this year. It is 18% higher than the previous year but is still short of the target,” the official said.

Around 6.6 lakh people were earlier liable to pay the corporation property tax and now, after expansion of the civic body, this has increased to 10.7 lakh taxpayers. However, some corporation officials are sceptical that the civic body will be able to implement the proposal because some of the biggest defaulters are government departments with outstanding taxes of hundreds of crores of rupees.

Source: The Times of India, Chennai