R Venugopal (name changed) is among several building owners in the city who have had to unknowingly pay extra money under the garb of `property tax’ to civic officials. “I did not have any idea about property tax rates. There was also no information on the corporation’s website. But I later learned that my neighbour was paying less per square foot, than I was paying,” Venugopal said.
But with Corporation of Chennai uploading a street-wise property tax rate of the city’s 15 zones on its website, corrupt officials will now find it hard to fleece citizens by demanding extra.
There have also been allegations that the civic body’s tax assessors accept bribes to lower assessment of properties. The property tax rate of buildings in different areas varies to a great extent and in the absence of a facility to cross-check the rates, many owners, until recently, were forced to grease the palms of officials.
For instance, the property tax rate for residential buildings varies from 40 paisa per sqft (Sholinganallur zone) to Rs 4 per sqft (Thiruvottiyur zone), while the rate for commercial buildings ranges from Rs 2 per sq ft (Manali zone) to Rs 11.25 per sq ft (Madhavaram zone).
V Gopalakrishnan, an RTI activist and resident of MGR Nagar, said several residents had approached him with complaints.
“Many civic officials tell residents that they can lower property tax if they bribe them. There are several buildings owners who pay residential rate for commercial properties, which results in a huge loss to the corporation,” he added.
For instance, he said a building owner in his neighbourhood, who owns property of 1,600 sqft, pays only for 800 sqft after bribing the officials. “Most people don’t lodge complaint as they don’t want to pay higher tax to the corporation,” he said.
A corporation official said citizens could now see the property tax rate of each streets by clicking `Property Tax Payment’ on the corporation’s website and selecting `Street Rates.’
“We will also conduct surprise inspections of households to check if there are any discrepancies in the property tax assessment. Action would be taken against those involved in malpractices,” he said.
Officials said residents could also fill out a self-assessment property tax form online and calculate the tax rate. The civic body will, however, verify the forms and will impose a fine on those who have paid less tax. Meanwhile, the civic body has also published the list of property tax defaulters on its website.Mobile phone numbers of zonal assistant revenue officers are also available on the website.
The civic body collected a record Rs 581.82 crore as property tax in 2014-15. The corporation had even faced criticism for employing transgender people to shame defaulters. The number of taxpayers increased from 6.5 lakh to 10.82 lakh, after the city’s expansion in 2011.
Christin Mathew Philip, The Times of India, Chennai