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Covid -19 affects Kochi corporation’s property tax collection

In the absence of a proper system for tax collection, revenue generation has been affected. Arrears to the contractors would come to around Rs 100 crore.

“It is a fact that the corporation faces acute shortage of funds. Just like other local bodies in the state, the corporation has also been hit by the Covid-19 and its fall out. People are reluctant to pay tax as all the sectors are under the grip of recession,” said mayor M Anil Kumar.

For completing various projects like construction of the new corporation office building at Marine Drive, biomining of legacy waste at Brahmapuram would require at least Rs 100 crore.

“Initially, the cost of biomining has been pegged at Rs 54 crore. Now, they say that the garbage has further accumulated causing subsequent increase in the cost of biomining,” said opposition leader Antony Kureethra.

At the same time, the system for collection of various taxes is improper. In the absence of an online facility to assess and collect tax, there are no proper records with the local body regarding tax defaulters.

“In the absence of online facility for tax collection, our staff would go to places of defaulters. But, people are not even ready to listen to our staff, let alone letting them in. The pandemic has made the door-to-door collection of taxes difficult,” Kumar said.

“We have decided to expedite the work on the property tax module as part of our egovernance project. The IKM is going ahead with the process. We expect that the property tax can be collected online from January 2022,” he said.
In the first eight months of the fiscal, the corporation authorities could collect only around 40% of average amount of the property tax projected for the year.

“Normally, we get around Rs 130 crore as property tax. We could collect around Rs 55 crore in the current fiscal so far. The pandemic has affected our tax collection as well,” an official with the finance department of the corporation said.

“As per the government order, the local bodies can demand tax arrears for the three preceding years. Now, the corporation officials have sent notices to many building owners demanding tax arrears from 2016. This would lead to the building owners moving the court challenging the local body’s move. It will affect the entire tax collection process adversely,” Kureethra said.

“The corporation authorities should conduct adalats to settle disputes over tax collection,” Kureethra said.

The revenue collection of the corporation during the month till November 18 is around Rs 4.5 crore. But, the corporation’s salary bills alone would come to around Rs 2 crore.

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