A recent decision of the State government to make payment of one-time building tax to the Revenue Department a pre-requisite for the allotment of building numbers (TC numbers in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation) has raised concern among Corporation officials.
A meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, with District Collectors and revenue officials earlier this week decided to be strict regarding collection of this tax.
Shortfall in collection“There has been a huge shortfall in the collection of revenue, especially in this category. Till now, it was as if this tax was not mandatory. Only when strict directives come from above were the village officers serious about collecting this. No order has been issued yet, but this step is required to increase the revenue collection,” says District Collector Biju Prabhakar.
But Corporation officials say this move is a way of shifting the blame to the local bodies.
“We have a system wherein someone who wants to build a house pays the building permit fee and annual building tax to the local body. It allots the TC number after ensuring that all conditions are satisfied. Now the government, which has been unable to collect the one-time tax efficiently, is trying to tie it to the TC number allotment. With this, blame for any delay in the allotment will fall on the Corporation. Such decisions are not fit for a democratic system,” says Deputy Mayor G. Happykumar.
Revenue officials at the Corporation say this is particularly serious as water and electricity connections are cleared by the respective departments only after the allotment of TC number.
Increase in tax allegedMr. Happykumar says there has also been a sharp increase in the one-time tax, which may be an additional burden on the people.
“The government is admitting that there has been a problem in revenue collection. Also, there have been instances of them going easy on big builders. Instead of improving this situation, the entire burden is shifted to the common people by increasing the tax rate,” says Mr. Happykumar.
