Chennai Corporation forms panel to fix property tax anomalies

According to a Chennai Corporation senior official, an order to create the committee was issued last week and the committee has been given two-months deadline to propose rectification and clear appeals filed by the property owners against the tax hike.

“We have received around 10,000 appeals from the property owners in the city seeking correction in property tax calculation and reassessment. These appeals are being cleared by the regional offices,” the official said.

The committee is headed by the Chennai Corporation Joint Commissioner (Revenue and Finance), while the Revenue Officer would function as coordinator. Legal officer, assistant revenue officers and zonal officers are included as the committee’s members.

The official added that apart from correcting the errors in the property tax calculation, the committee would look into other issues including mistaken assessment and rationalising the hike in cases where the tax rate was increased more than the allowed slab. “Committee will also look to decrease the tax rates in some areas,” the official said.

From the first half of 2019-2020 financial year, the Chennai Corporation increased the tax rates by 50 per cent for residential buildings and 100 per cent for commercial buildings, following a government order. It had collected Rs.602 crore as property tax during this period.

The decision, however, had taken citizens by surprise as several property owners inadvertently marked their residential buildings as commercial buildings.