The property tax paid by the residents in Coimbatore is much more as compared to those living in Chennai. Till recently, the residents of Chennai paid tax rates which were set in 1998 whereas the tax rates for Coimbatore has changed twice, once in 2008 and once in 2018.
Coimbatore Consumer Cause, a consumer forum, has petitioned the department of municipal administration and water supply to modify the tax to ensure parity across the state.
According to the law, the state government revises property tax once in every 10 years. After 1998 the state government revised the property tax for all the local bodies except for the Chennai Greater corporation in 2008. By this time there was a 25% hike in the property tax for residential buildings while industries and commercial buildings saw their taxes going up by anywhere up to 100% and 150% respectively, confirmed K Kathirmathiyon, of Coimbatore Consumer Cause.
The state government has confirmed as a reply to RTI that the property tax for Chennai greater corporation was not revised in 2008 and they had still been following the 1998 rates until recently. But in 2018 when the government had revised the property tax for all the local bodies again, the Chennai greater corporation was not excluded.
However, the tax rate changes done for Chennai was based on the 1998 rates but for others, the hike was from the 2008 rates. Kathirmathiyon said that the change in the base year resulted in a massive effect on the tax amount paid by the taxpayers in other parts of the state.
For other local bodies, he said, the state government had last year hiked the property tax for residential buildings up to 25% from the 2008 rates. For industries and commercial buildings, the tax rates went up to 100% and 150%, respectively.