The New Indian Express: Madurai: Wednesday, 29 September
2021.
The data given by the Commissionerate of Municipal Administration in reply to the queries under Right to Information Act, 2005 reveal that only 35.51 per cent of various taxes were collected by 13 municipal corporations (excluding Chennai and Coimbatore) in the pre-covid fiscal (2018-19).
In his RTI query filed on August 24, social activist M Kasimayan demanded the Commissionerate of Municipal Administration (CMA) to provide information on demand, collection and balance amount of various taxes collected by the 15 municipal corporations across the State. He also sought the list of defaulters in each of these corporations.
While the list of defaulters is said to be sent by the respective corporations, which he is yet to receive, the CMA has provided the abstract of tax collection except for Chennai and Coimbatore Corporations. Accordingly, seven types of taxes including property tax, vacant land tax, water supply, underground drainage, professional tax, non-tax and solid waste management user charge (SUC) are being collected in all the corporations. The 13 corporations include Avadi, Dindigul, Erode, Hosur, Madurai, Nagercoil, Salem, Thanjavur, Thoothukudi, Tiruchy, Tirunelveli, Tiruppur and Vellore.
Kasimayan said as Greater Chennai Corporation is out of the jurisdiction of CMA, he was asked to file a separate query with Chennai Corporation. “A sum of Rs 5,855 crore was the target tax collection amount for three fiscals from 2018 to 2021. Only 40 per cent of this has been collected. If Chennai and Coimbatore are included, the pending amount would alone sum up to Rs 5,000 crore. The Covid outbreak in 2020-21 fiscal is often claimed to be the reason for economic decline. However, the figures prove that the tax collection was poor even before the outbreak of the pandemic. Thanjavur, Madurai, Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli and Vellore cities have displayed very poor performance in tax collection (only less than 30 per cent of the taxes have been collected),” he said.
He also noted that the demand amount has been reduced from Rs 2025.73 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 1887.69 crore in 2019-20. “Usually the tax demand would increase year after year. But it has reduced between the two fiscal years,” he said.
Pointing out at the data obtained through a previous RTI query some three months ago, he said there were differences in collection and balance amounts in Avadi Corporation suggesting irregularities. Speaking to TNIE, Madurai Corporation Commissioner, KP Karthikeyan explained there were a lot of litigation issues around property tax assessments. Some residential establishments were assessed as commercial establishments and vice versa. A few groups of people, who are bulk payers, have also approached the court seeking concession in tax. “
The data given by the Commissionerate of Municipal Administration in reply to the queries under Right to Information Act, 2005 reveal that only 35.51 per cent of various taxes were collected by 13 municipal corporations (excluding Chennai and Coimbatore) in the pre-covid fiscal (2018-19).
In his RTI query filed on August 24, social activist M Kasimayan demanded the Commissionerate of Municipal Administration (CMA) to provide information on demand, collection and balance amount of various taxes collected by the 15 municipal corporations across the State. He also sought the list of defaulters in each of these corporations.
While the list of defaulters is said to be sent by the respective corporations, which he is yet to receive, the CMA has provided the abstract of tax collection except for Chennai and Coimbatore Corporations. Accordingly, seven types of taxes including property tax, vacant land tax, water supply, underground drainage, professional tax, non-tax and solid waste management user charge (SUC) are being collected in all the corporations. The 13 corporations include Avadi, Dindigul, Erode, Hosur, Madurai, Nagercoil, Salem, Thanjavur, Thoothukudi, Tiruchy, Tirunelveli, Tiruppur and Vellore.
Kasimayan said as Greater Chennai Corporation is out of the jurisdiction of CMA, he was asked to file a separate query with Chennai Corporation. “A sum of Rs 5,855 crore was the target tax collection amount for three fiscals from 2018 to 2021. Only 40 per cent of this has been collected. If Chennai and Coimbatore are included, the pending amount would alone sum up to Rs 5,000 crore. The Covid outbreak in 2020-21 fiscal is often claimed to be the reason for economic decline. However, the figures prove that the tax collection was poor even before the outbreak of the pandemic. Thanjavur, Madurai, Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli and Vellore cities have displayed very poor performance in tax collection (only less than 30 per cent of the taxes have been collected),” he said.
He also noted that the demand amount has been reduced from Rs 2025.73 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 1887.69 crore in 2019-20. “Usually the tax demand would increase year after year. But it has reduced between the two fiscal years,” he said.
Pointing out at the data obtained through a previous RTI query some three months ago, he said there were differences in collection and balance amounts in Avadi Corporation suggesting irregularities. Speaking to TNIE, Madurai Corporation Commissioner, KP Karthikeyan explained there were a lot of litigation issues around property tax assessments. Some residential establishments were assessed as commercial establishments and vice versa. A few groups of people, who are bulk payers, have also approached the court seeking concession in tax. “
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