CHENNAI: Chennai residents who pay their property taxes on time will now have a reason to rejoice. They can avail a 5 % discount for being punctual with tax payments. On the other hand, residents who default or make late payments will have to shell out 2% as penalty.
Municipal Administration Minister SP Velumani had introduced a Bill to amend the Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, in the assembly, to pave way for the provisions. So far, there had been no provisions to penalise or incentivise payment of property tax on time.
The incentives constitute 5% of the net property tax at a maximum of `5,000 if residents pay the tax within the 15th day of the half year, said a senior corporation official.
The civic body, announced in its budget for the year 2018-2019 that it set out to collect `1,200 crores in property tax this year, as opposed to the `800 crores that it collected last year.
Adding that a direct official communication may be received after the assembly, the official said that the incentives are not likely to impact the total property tax that is to be generated.
“If you weigh it out, the interest that we lose out on due to delayed payment would be much higher than the incentives, that is only going to be a maximum of `5,000,” the official said.