Tiruchengode Municipality tells residents to pay tax dues or face action

Namakkal The Tiruchegode Municipality here urged the residents to pay pending taxes to the tune of ₹

The Tiruchegode Municipality here urged the residents to pay pending taxes to the tune of ₹16.67 crore soon or face action.

The municipality has 33 wards with more than 1.50 lakh population. The main occupations of people in this municipality are power loom, handloom, truck body building, and rig lorries transport. The municipality receives revenue through various taxes and through shops it has leased out.

Many people, who took municipal buildings on lease, did not pay the lease amount on time for years. The municipality gave time for people to pay pending taxes before November 30, 2022, but many failed to pay. Following this, for the past few months, municipal officials have identified these shops and sealed them.

Meanwhile, the municipality warned people who did not pay tax for years to pay the dues soon or face action. Municipal Commissioner M. Ganesan said that as many as 43,184 people were yet to pay property tax, including owners of residents, commercial establishments, powerloom units, lorry and rig units, textile shops, and jewellery shops. The outstanding tax amount was ₹18.10 crore, as only ₹8.33 crore had been collected. Similarly, ₹1.74 crore in professional tax was to be paid, with only ₹52 lakhs collected. “Steps have been taken to cancel the licences of the shops through the Commercial Taxes Department,” Mr. Ganesan added.

In Tiruchengode, 1,388 people have to pay vacant land tax to the tune of ₹1.79 crore to the municipality, but as on February 19, only ₹24 lakh had been collected. Likewise, 19,397 water connections are there in the municipality, and ₹3.49 crore are to be paid as water charges. However, only ₹1.44 crore was collected. Similarly, the lease amount of ₹4.83 crore was supposed to be paid, but only ₹3.61 crore was collected.

“Steps have been taken to seal the shops that have not paid taxes. Totally, ₹ 16.67 crore in taxes are pending. We urge people to pay these taxes soon, or legal action will be taken, including disconnecting water connection,” the Commissioner warned.