30K yet to pay property tax, Chandigarh MC nets highest-ever Rs64 cr

Tribune News Service

Sandeep Rana

Chandigarh, March 24

Even as 30,000 people are yet to pay house and commercial property tax, the Municipal Corporation has managed to collect its highest-ever property tax of Rs64 crore.

A week is still left for the current fiscal to end and the civic body is hoping to get more amount by March 31 to fill its depleting coffers.

According to data compiled by the corporation, of the 85,000 house tax assesses, 68,000 have cleared their property tax in the ongoing financial year. As many as 17,000, excluding the previous defaulters, are yet to pay the levy.

As far as the commercial tax is concerned, there are 30,000 taxpayers. However, only 17,000 have paid the tax this financial year. As many as 13,000 property owners have not paid the tax.

“We are issuing notices to all defaulters and our communication with them is on,” said Rupesh Kumar, MC Additional Commissioner and head of the tax branch.

The civic body started collecting commercial property tax in 2004 and house tax in 2015. However, in the 2021-2022 fiscal, it has collected the highest-ever levy of Rs64 crore. Like previous fiscals, this amount includes the arrears as well.

“For the coming year, we have an actual amount of Rs44 crore to be recovered. However, it will go up as we will get arrears of the previous years,” said the Additional Commissioner.

Colonies to pay tax too

As many as 20,000 house owners in different colonies will also have to pay the property tax from the coming fiscal. The houses with an area of 500 sq ft or above will have to pay the levy. The UT had omitted the word colonies from the tax exemption list in 2019. However, citing the coronavirus, the MC had not collected the tax from the colonies.

Pay from April 1 to May 31, get rebate

• Those depositing the tax for the 2022-23 fiscal between April 1 and May 31 will get a rebate.
• As per the set practice, residential property taxpayers will get a rebate of 20 per cent and commercial property taxpayers 10 per cent. After that, there will be a penalty of 25 per cent and 12 per cent interest on the tax dues sans rebate.
• People can pay the property tax either at Sampark centres, the MC’s website or the “I’M Chandigarh” app.

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