CHENNAI: MK Stalin, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, said on Wednesday that his DMK government was compelled to change the property tax in order to ensure that money reaches the newly elected civic bodies to support development activities. He also made a plea to the political parties not to polarise the issue.
The Chief Minister rejected a request from various political parties, including his allies, in the Assembly to either roll back the recently announced revision or announce a cut, saying that the revision to the property tax wasn’t intentional but had to be made in order to give civic bodies more money. In response to the matter brought up in the Assembly House, Stalin said, “I desire to say that the administration does not take joy in adjusting property tax but is compelled to do so to assure funding to the cash-strapped local bodies.”
He claimed that “almost 83 percent of the households in urban Tamil Nadu will not be affected by the existing modification” to support the government’s decision. The Chief Minister said that the local bodies were starved of funding because elections were not held in order to justify the increase. Civic organizations that were severely short on funds were unable to provide for the basic needs of the populace.