DMK MLAs attack Velumani over hike in property tax

The recent hike in property tax and discrepancies in tax slabs were raised by DMK MLAs along with the complaints over poor civic administration inviting Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami to intervene assuring action against erring officials.

DMK legislators, TM Anbarasan and AP Nandakumar, said that the public were subjected to hardship due to the indiscriminate steep rise of property tax. “The property tax was revised in Alandur during 2008-09 and the public are forced to pay more tax within a span of ten years and this is a double taxation for property owners in my constituency,” Alandur MLA Anbarasan said demanding streamlining of tax for property owners.

“There is no common logic and there is a sharp mismatch between the neighbours in the paying property tax. There are examples in my constituency and this needs rectification,” Anaikattu MLA Nandakumar informed the Assembly. He also invited the Minister for an official inspection in his constituency so that he can get a first-hand experience of poor administration. The MLA also alleged that Rs 235 crore worth schemes under smart city and AMRUT were pending due to official apathy and delay by sub-contractors.

Nandakumar also noted that the beautification of Marina has proved to be failure as the saplings planted by Corporation has died due to poor maintenance. The MLA also wanted the state to furnish the survival rate and status of saplings planted by it.

Deputy leader of opposition Duraimurugan said that his party was not against the government for improving tax, but there must be some logical calculations before a hike. The property tax revision is implemented in haste and there is visible violation in Vellore district. Further as there is no judge to head the tribunal dealing with property tax cases, the tax payers are left in lurch, Duraimurugan said.

In his reply, Velumani said that the property tax was increased based on the direction of High Court which observed that the tax was not revised in Chennai for more than two decades and for more than a decade in other areas. Velumani said that the specific complaints will be attended to.