Property tax delayed with eye on polls, says DMK

“The state government hiked theproperty tax sharply against the popular wish of the public but due to local body elections the government has withheld the hike in property tax,” said Karthik, in the assembly.

The Minister for Municipal Administration SP Velumani, in his reply, said that the first hike in property tax was witnessed during DMK rule in 2008 and AIADMK did not go for hiking the property tax but it was the direction of the High Court based on which thestate government had to hike theproperty tax.

However, the now hike has been withheld due to the demands of the public and also a committee has been appointed to oversee the issues in property tax hike. The committee is involved in the process of obtaining views from the public and after submission of its reports appropriate action would be taken, said Velumani, who also questioned whether the DMK MLA is not happy in withholding the hike in property tax.

Revenue from property tax is 261.77 cr:

The overall property tax collection in the state, for the year 2019-20, is Rs 261.77 crore, including Rs 28.04 crore of property tax from self-financing educational institutions. Among the 36 rural districts,Chengalpet district has garnered the maximum collection of Rs 23.19 crore. Kancheepuram district stands second in the property tax collection with the total income of Rs 21.69 crore.

Among the three tiers of rural local bodies, village panchayat is the only body empowered to levy and collect taxes such as property tax or house tax, professional tax and advertisement tax.

As far as professional tax is concerned, the overall tax collection is Rs 117.19 crore. The maximum tax collection was in Kancheepuram district with the total revenue of Rs 15.78 crore followed by Chengalpet district with the total revenue of Rs 10.67 crore.