Property owners in the city will have to pay more tax to the Chennai Corporation in the form of a user fee that will be levied for clearing garbage from the streets.
There are more than 12 lakh assessees in the city who pay property tax. All assessees in residential, non-residential and mixed use premises will have to pay the user fee for conservancy.
No hike in property tax
However, there is no increse in property tax rates. The last time a hike was effected was back in 1998.
The user fee will be computed based on the property tax paid by the assessee every six months. It is still not clear if it will come to effect from October 2018 or with retrospective effect from April 2018.
As per the modified fee, a house owner who pays ₹1,001 as property tax every six months will now have to pay ₹360 as user fee per year. A shop owner paying ₹5,000 as property tax for half a year will have to pay ₹6,000 as user charges per year.
Currently, property owners pay 2.5% of the annual rental value of the building as education tax and 0.9% as library cess every six months, in addition to the 9% property tax. “The revenue department will initiate work on computation of the amount to be paid by every assessee,” said an official.
In the residential category, the largest number of assessees is found in the tax slab of ₹0-300 every six months.
At least 3.21 lakh home owners in the city pay less than ₹300 as property tax every six months. They will have to pay ₹120 more every year.
Defending the move
Chennai Corporation officials, however, said the user fee on a monthly basis would be very low for most assessees who own houses.
“The user fee ranges from ₹10 per month to ₹500 per month. More than 10.68 lakh house owners in the city will pay less than ₹600 per year. Only 1.17 lakh owners of non-residential and mixed premises will have to pay higher user charges,” said an official.
A section of property owners seems to be concerned about the increase in the amount paid every half year to the Revenue Department of the Corporation.
But many of them said they would be willing to pay the user fee along with the property tax payment if conservancy operations improve.
College Road resident C.K. Devassy said residents in his neighbourhood were already arranging for garbage clearance on their own.
‘Garbage not cleared’
“I am paying ₹2,500 as property tax every half year. But the Corporation workers do not remove garbage from my lane. We are arranging that ourselves. Residents will be ready to pay user charges with the property tax if the corporation improves conservancy operations. Garbage should be removed frequently. Yesterday, I found somebody burning garbage along the Cooum on College Road. Why can’t they stop it before levying user charges?” he asked.
Former Corporation council floor leader V. Sukumar Babu said residents would accept a hike only if conservancy work was taken up properly in all areas, along with garbage clearance two times a day.
