Kozhikode Corporation to go ahead with collection of revised property tax

To be implemented with retrospective effect from April 2016

Unfazed by protests from residents’ associations, the Kozhikode Corporation has commenced enforcing the revised property tax on all residential, industrial and commercial buildings within the limits of the city with retrospective effect from April 2016.

“All processes, including issuing numbers to houses, have been completed. Tax rates have been determined depending on the size and location of the buildings,” Mayor Thottathil Raveendran told The Hindu on Friday.

He said that the protests were unwarranted as the property tax was revised after a gap of almost 26 years. The proposal to revise tax was put forward a few years ago. But this was kept in abeyance for various reasons. “Now, the State government has also given directives to go ahead with the revision of taxes,” Mr. Raveendran said.

The Corporation is racing against time to implement the tax revision at least by next month. Kozhikode is the only Corporation in the State that is yet to revise the tax.

The assessment of taxes is based on multiple factors after dividing the city into primary, secondary and tertiary zones. However, the revision will not be applicable for all residential buildings having an area of 2,000 sq.ft. and were constructed before 2016.

An area which has a government or a quasi-government office, educational institution, commercial complex, market, bus station, railway station and hospital will be in the primary zone. The places surrounding a primary zone with potential to evolve into developed areas will be in the secondary zone. Areas that do not come under either category will be in the tertiary zone.

New numbers for buildings will be issued shortly in all the 75 divisions within the limits of the city. This time, the changes will be effective in erstwhile merged grama panchayats of Beypore, Elathur and Cheruvannur-Nallalam.

Two years ago, the the city corporation council had approved an agenda revising the tax with retrospective effect from April 1, 2013 based on the guidelines of the State government. But now the council endorsed a decision to revise the tax with retrospective effect from 2016.

Property tax is a major income source for the Kozhikode Corporation. It should have been revised from 1994 itself. But for political reasons, it was deferred, officials said.