27,000 residential, commercial property owners in Chandigarh yet to pay tax

For recovering more than ₹8 crore in unpaid property tax bills, the MC has started issuing notices to the 27,000 defaulters.

The fund-starved municipal corporation has reported that nearly 27% of property taxpayers in the city have defaulted on their payments.

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Against last year’s collection of ₹53 crore, the MC has so far collected just ₹40 crore in property tax, which is a major source of revenue for the civic body. The MC will now charge 12% interest and a fine of 25% on the tax dues.

This, when the MC had extended the deadline for payment of tax till July 31 in the wake of the pandemic. Several complaints of inflated property tax bills and bills outstanding for several years had been received by the civic body. Most of these complaints were received from commercial property owners.

For recovering more than ₹8 crore in unpaid property tax bills, the MC has started issuing notices to the 27,000 defaulters. Of these, 15,000 are owners of residential properties and 12,000 of commercial properties.

An MC official, requesting anonymity, said, “We had even arranged for disposal of such complaints by setting up a special desk at MC office. If tax is not paid till September 30, we will initiate the process of attaching properties of defaulters.”