Chennai civic body halts property tax revision after public outcry

Chennai's civic body has suspended its property tax revision following a significant backlash from residents and commercial establishments. The Greater Chennai Corporation announced the immediate halt to the tax adjustments after receiving a flood of grievance petitions requesting a review.

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Several grievance petitions were received from the public over the past few days, requesting a reconsideration of the revision...upon careful examination of the revision and associated grievances raised by the public, has decided to put on hold the tax revision with immediate effect.

"Upon careful examination of the revision and associated grievances raised by the public, has decided to put on hold the tax revision with immediate effect," the corporation stated. This decision comes after days of public outcry over the revised tax rates.

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Property tax has not been hiked anywhere. How is it fair if someone builds a house on a 1 lakh square foot land but pays tax only for 1,000 square foot land

State minister R Nirmal Kumar attempted to clarify the situation, asserting that the exercise was merely a "reassessment" of buildings to correct past irregularities, not a tax increase. He argued that it was unfair for properties to be taxed based on outdated valuations, citing examples of discrepancies where large land areas were taxed as if they were much smaller.

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The inspector came with a measurement instrument and did the assessment. Now the property tax is increased to 250 per cent from the earlier ₹4,480 for six months to ₹11,330 now.

However, many residents reported substantial increases in their property tax bills. One long-time resident of Sholinganallur noted his semi-annual tax jumped from ₹4,480 to ₹11,330, a more than 250% increase, despite his property having been assessed two years prior. Another resident in Tambaram claimed his tax nearly quadrupled, while a third saw their annual tax bill rise from ₹9,000 to ₹23,000, questioning if it was an indirect tax collection.

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We do not know the exact reason. This is not property tax this is collecting indirect taxes.