Chennai: The Greater Chennai Corporation has ended the 2017-18 financial year with a high note by collecting Rs 1040 crore as property and professional taxes.
The civic body had also recorded a professional tax collection of Rs 340 crore. “We have collected Rs 297 crore as professional tax last year. We had expected Rs 350 crore, but we have recorded nearly Rs 50 crore more,” a Corporation official said.
Meanwhile, the official also added that the property tax collection reached Rs 720 crore. “Last year’s property collection stood at Rs 695 crore. We have crossed Rs 700 crore mark for the first time," the official said. The officials also said that total revenue to the civic body in 2017-18 is '1114 crore. “We (Revenue department) have also collected a notable amount from rents of community centres, parking slot charges and others,” the officials added. Explaining the steps taken to increase the tax collection, the official said that the civic body has been sending SMS alerts to the property owners daily. “We also issued notices to defaulters and conducted camps. To teach long-term defaulters a lesson, we bested to ‘thandora’ before their buildings,” the officials said.
The Greater Chennai Corporation has fixed a target of Rs 1200 crore as property tax and Rs 450 crore as the professional tax in the 2018-19 financial year.
