After Pongal, the Greater Chennai Corporation is planning to launch a major enforcement drive against property tax defaulters.
Owing to inadequate manpower in the civic body, property tax collection has not increased in many zones of the city even after a favourable court order confirming the Government Order (G.O.) and the resolution of the City Corporation Council.
Many of the 5 lakh assessees have reportedly been delaying payment as the number of tax collectors are inadequate to visit each and every neighbourhood. With just one week before the deadline closes, most of the zones of the Corporation have not reported any significant increase in tax payment, and many have reported a tax collector shortage of over 15%, severely affecting the collection process.
More than 55% of the property tax collection is done by tax collectors despite the introduction of other modes of payment. Some of the 200 wards have over 7,000 assessees and just one tax collector. A single tax collector will be able to handle an average of 3,000 assessees. Owing to vacancies, currently, the tax collectors are in charge of collection from a large number of assessees in many wards.
As the deadline for property tax payment without penalty ends next week, officials in many zones have started preparations for an enforcement drive against major defaulters. The civic body has sent tax collectors to all areas with defaulters.
“Unless tax collectors visit the premises, the assessees do not pay. More than 50% of residents and traders have not paid the property tax in most of the 200 wards, and a few have informed the visiting tax collectors that they will pay the tax with 2% penalty before March owing to the existing financial conditions,” an official said.
Following the direction from the Madras High Court, the civic body has initiated measures to collect tax from 5 lakh assessees. Out of 13.27 lakh assessees in the 15 zones of the city, 6.94 lakh have paid the property tax, while 6.33 lakh are yet to pay. The civic body is expected to collect ₹1,400 crore in 2022-2023.
As a number of residents were of the view that all residents will get the benefits of the High Court order, the civic body has also planned to create awareness among residents about the impact of the order on property tax administration.
“More than 250 assessees filed writ petitions in the Madras High Court, challenging various things related to the property tax general revision. However, in the order, the legal validity of the G.O. and the council resolution was upheld, which means that the court determined that the process followed was proper and the methodology of the hike was completely legal and in line with established law, the Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, and the rule related to property tax,” an official said.
“Many assessees had not paid their dues because of the pending court case. We are urging assessees to pay the taxes. Once the increased revenues are realised, these will be used for improving civic amenities,” the official added.
Under-assessed buildings
The Greater Chennai Corporation has started identifying properties that have been erroneously assessed in various parts of the city to increase tax collection.
Each of the tax assessors have been asked to identify at least five properties that have tax assessment errors. In each zone, more than 50 buildings are being identified every day. Over 750 buildings have been identified daily in the city, officials said.
As many of the zones have less than 10 assessors, the civic body had recently announced that private agencies will be hired to identify under-assessed buildings in various parts of the city.
