Following the State government’s decision to put on hold the revision of property tax, Chennai Corporation is likely to shelve its proposal to collect revised property tax from all the underassessed properties in the city.
At least 40% of the 12 lakh properties in the 15 zones of the city have been found to be under-assessed, with most owners paying a significantly low amount of property taxes for their buildings.
According to official sources, the civic body is worried about protests by residents ahead of the civic body elections. So the work on revision of property taxes for many buildings that have been under-assessed has also not been carried out after Local Administration Minister S.P. Velumani announced that the proposal for property tax revision had been put on hold.
Work on marking of buildings, 2D processing and digital mapping has been completed in many zones. The door numbers of many of the 4.8 lakh buildings have also been traced. But the civic body has not carried out the revision of the property tax. Notice to owners who had not paid the correct amount of property tax for their buildings has not been issued because of the government’s decision.
Most of the owners who have under-assessed their properties have been identified in the added areas of the city.
Ahead of the announcement by the Local Administration Minister on putting the tax revision on hold, the civic body had issued notices to many residents asking them to pay revised property tax according to the actual measurement of the building. Many residents have also started paying the correct tax. But any further decision on underassessment of property tax in the city is likely to be taken only after the elections, sources added.
