Oulgaret Municipality has collected Rs. 1.7 crore as property tax against a total due of Rs. 4.55 crore for the financial year of 2009-10.
As of April 2010, a sum of Rs. 4.01 crore is due to the municipality as property tax, which includes arrears and current demand .
Property tax collection drives held recently at Venkata Nagar, Pakkamudayanpet, Lawspet and Alankuppam yielded a total of Rs. 10 lakh, an official of the Oulgaret Municipality said.
Apart from property tax, a sum of Rs. 55 lakh has been collected as vacant land tax for 2009-10 against Rs. 34.75 lakh collected the previous year.
A target of Rs. 1 crore was set for March 2010, including property tax, entertainment tax, licence fee, arrears, etc. The municipality collected Rs. 87 lakh, the official said.
“For 2010-11, we propose to hold ward-wise property tax collection camps early in the year. This will create awareness among taxpayers. If we start conducting these camps by June, more areas can be covered. Only four areas were covered this year,” the official said.
As regards vacant land tax, the official said that there was a problem in collection because lands often changed hands, and it was difficult to track the owners. Media channels could be used to make an appeal to them. There is also a proposal to publish in newspapers a list of defaulting cable operators, who have not paid entertainment tax yet, the official said.
