MADURAI: Madurai corporation has collected 80% of its targeted ₹310 crore in property tax for the 2024-25 financial year as of March 18. Though a total of ₹251 crore collected is an improvement over last year’s 77% collection, the city has slipped to the 10th position from 9th last year, among Tamil Nadu‘s 20 municipal corporations.
However, it is the third highest in total assessments in the state, with nearly 3.48 lakh properties registered, behind Coimbatore and Greater Chennai Corporation.
The 15th Central Finance Commission mandates city corporations to achieve at least 13% growth in tax collection to get central govt grants. Corporation commissioner Chitra Vijayan told TOI that Madurai had met this target last week. The corporation had not yet resorted to cutting water supply of errant taxpayers as a coercive measure. She attributed arrears to multiple factors, primarily litigation. “Our legal team is actively pursuing these cases, but the volume remains overwhelming. We are scheduling tax appellate tribunal hearings and implementing a systematic follow-up process,” she said.
A senior revenue official said targeting top 100 defaulters through ward-wise enforcement had resulted in recovery of over ₹20 crore. The corporation also extended working hours at collection centres on weekends for the first two months of the financial year and offered 5% incentive (up to ₹5,000) for early taxpayers. They were now collaborating with TNEB to track electricity consumption and detect properties that should be reclassified from residential to commercial taxation.
However, legal disputes, double assessments, and property misclassification continue to pose hurdles. “In some cases, the corporation has stopped garbage collection from properties with unpaid taxes as part of its enforcement measures,” said an official, adding that efforts were on to boost tax collection to 85%.
However, AIADMK ward 64 councillor M Solai Raja claimed the increase in tax collection is purely due to the (2022) tax revision and not because of better enforcement. He also criticized the lack of transparency in how funds are spent. “We have been demanding a white paper for the last two years on how the general fund is utilized, but the mayor and corporation commissioner are yet to submit such details to the council,” he said. Despite higher tax collection, he argued, civic infrastructure spending remains low.
