Kochi Corporation claims record taxes

KOCHI: The cash-strapped City Corporation has earned record revenue during the final lap of the last fiscal year. During a Corporation council meeting, deputy mayor and chairman of finance standing committee T. J Vinod informed the council that from November, after the new council sworn in, to March 31, the civic body garnered '69.23 crore as property tax alone. The total revenue collection during the period was 92 per cent of the estimate, which is the highest in recent history of the local body.

"There is considerable increase in tax collection. The property tax collection stood at 78.42 per cent, collection from professional tax was 96 per cent and revenue from rent was 96.45 per cent of the estimate. The advertisement tax revenue was Rs 1.44 crore while the entertainment tax collection during the period was Rs 10 crore," the deputy mayor said.

The civic body also collected tax from some of the big defaulters like a hotel group in Willington Island which remitted default tax of Rs 28 lakh. The Corporation has cleared bill dues of the contractors worth Rs 18 crore during the period, the council meeting was informed.

Mayor Soumini Jain and the deputy mayor complimented the standing committee chairpersons, councillors and officials for their support in achieving record revenue collection and maximum utilisation of the annual Plan funds. During the last fiscal, the Corporation spent Rs 105.31 crore of the total allocation of Rs 146.51 crore, representing 71.88 per cent utilisation.