The residents of Trichy have sought for the Trichy Corporation to consider sending SMS (short message service) alerts about the property tax dues to the registered mobile numbers of the property owners.
With a section of property owners residing outside the city or even the country by renting out their properties for residential and commercial purposes, the notices sent by the civic body seeking water charge, property tax and underground drainage (UGD) charge reaches their tenant.
While some of the tenants fail to convey the arrival of property tax notices to the owners, residents said that they fail to pay the taxes within the half-yearly fiscal of a financial year.
“Instead of sending the notices through a letter to property owners, why not send SMS text or messages on other platforms to convey the property tax dues? It will also help the civic body to complete the tax collection target easily,” S Muthukrishnan, a resident of Thillai Nagar said.
In case of property owners forgetting to pay the taxes for the half-yearly fiscals, the arrear amount adds on to the next half-yearly fiscal, which makes the property owners feel like they are shelling out a huge sum on property tax.
As the mobile numbers of the property owners are already available with the corporation, sources said that linking the mobile numbers with property tax assessment is easy for sending the tax due notices. “There was such a plan to send text messages for intimating the tax dues. The decision has to be taken by state-level officials, we will convey the demand,” an official with the corporation said.
