THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even after the government issued an order in 2017 to exclude the plinth area of car porch from the building tax, it has been noted those who are responsible for measuring the plinth area misuses the citizen's ignorance in the matter by including even the car porch area while calculating the building tax.
As per the order, the car porch plinth area of any residential area must be excluded from the building tax. Simultaneously the car porch of the buildings not used for residential purposes should pay tax. The exemption also includes the open terrace of the building.
Private agencies are assigned the task to create the plan of a building and engineers are responsible for the inspection of the plot as per the plan submitted by agencies. "We assign and collect the tax for a particular building. That is equivalent to the total plinth area multiplied into Rs 16. This is based on the plan of the plot submitted," said A G Sabu, assistant revenue officer, Corporation.
Citizens needn't be aware about the exemption and inclusion area of a building during tax application. Therefore it is the responsibility of the authorities to make sure their client is not exploited, said a corporation official.
Such exploitation is common in both panchayat and corporation limits. "If any client registers a complaint regarding the change in the plot plinth area which has included the car porch area, we will consider the matter and if genuine, we exempt that area and renew their tax," said Sabu.