TIRUCHY: In the last two months, the municipal corporation has collected Rs 16 crore of the total pending property tax dues of Rs 53 crore from defaulters in the city. Senior officials said the corporation has started pasting notices on the buildings of the property tax defaulters and they are expecting to collect the remaining Rs 37 crore in the next two months.
"From Saturday onwards, we have started pasting posters on the buildings of major tax defaulters. So far, we have pasted notices on more than 100 buildings. We have also directed all the zonal officials to continue the drive. Following the move, defaulters have started paying the property tax," a senior corporation official said.
Senior officials said they are having a regular assessment of the revenue collection. "Everyday, we are conducting an assessment of the property tax collection. If we find that people are continuing to ignore paying the tax even after pasting notices, we would consider taking action including publishing the details of the major tax defaulters," a source said.
Sources said the corporation is yet to get more than Rs 100 crore from multiple sources like various taxes and rents from buildings owned by the corporation. Though it started a drive in May, many defaulters had a lukewarm approach and this compelled the authorities to change their strategy.
According to sources, the officials are now focussing on collecting the pending property tax at the earliest. "Commercial establishments like shopping complexes are the major property tax defaulters. Whenever our team approaches the owners of shopping complexes, they are claiming they are not able to pay taxes on time as many tenants are yet to pay their rents. But, we cannot consider these as excuses, as some of them have not paid the property tax for more than three years," an official added.