Walk-in payment of property tax revived

CHENNAI: The Chennai Corporation on Thursday signed Memoranda of Agreement with eight banks to introduce walk-in payments of property tax. The Corporation said the move was aimed at making it easier for citizens to pay their taxes and also make it simpler for the Corporation to increase collections.A statement from the Corporation said officials and elected representatives in their review of property tax collections estimated an expected property tax collection of Rs 480.77 crore, and the outstanding collections from 2006 to be Rs 268.74 crore.  Noting that the Corporation has 250 property tax collectors on its rolls and that each collector was given a target of 3,000 households, the civic body blamed the lackadaisical working of the collectors for the high outstanding amount.The MoAs with the banks was meant to reduce such leakages in the system, the Corporation has said. In all, 401 bank branches across the city will soon have a walk-in payment facility for property taxes. The banks are IOB, Canara Bank, ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank, HDFC Bank, City Union Bank, Karur Vysya Bank and Axis Bank. The banks are expected to start the service after putting an interface in place for the purpose.The walk-in payment facility for property tax had been in place a few years earlier.