Only 40 per cent of property tax appeals disposed of

According to a Chennai Corporation official, they have received nearly 10,000 appeals seeking correction in property tax calculation. “Of the total appeals, we have disposed of nearly 4,000 appeals,” the official said.

The delay in disposing of the appeals has created confusions among the property owners whether they should pay the revised tax amount or continue paying the old one.

“Those who appealed against the demand notices are yet to receive any communication. Even those who want to pay the property tax after getting the clarification from the Corporation has not been able to make the payment because of this,” V S Jayaraman of T Nagar Resident Welfare Association said.

The civic body had issued orders in October to increase the property tax by 50 per cent for residential buildings and 100 per cent hike for commercial buildings with retrospective effect from April 2018. Soon after the residents received notices explaining new tax rates, many were riled over the unexpectedly high tax rates.

It is also learnt that the civic body had not processed appeals received from Ambattur zone as the residents had demand slashing of tax. “We will decide on the Ambattur zone after the election.”

However, the civic official attributed the delay in disposing of the appeals to the shortage of staff and election duty. “The residents whose appeals are pending should their property tax based on their old rates before March 31, and the difference amount should be paid after disposal of the appeal,” the official added.

Meanwhile, the Chennai Corporation has crossed Rs 900 crore, having collected Rs 905 crore as property tax as of Tuesday. But the civic body officials admitted that they would not be able to achieve the ambitious target of Rs 1,200 crore.

Apart from property tax, the civic body has also collected Rs 324 crore as professional tax, Rs 121 crore as company tax and Rs. 40 crore as entertainment tax, as on Tuesday. With this, the total revenue collected as tax has gone up to Rs 1,390 crore.