No property tax exemption for pvt edu institutes

CHENNAI: Municipal Administration Minister S P Velumani on Thursday introduced a Bill to amend the laws relating to municipal corporations and municipalities in the State, which provides for doing away with the exemption given so far from paying property tax for buildings of private educational institutions.
As per rule 15 (c) of the Tamil Nadu Village Panchayats (Assessments and Collection of Taxes) Rules, 1999, only the buildings used for educational purposes, including hostels and libraries run by the government or local bodies and institutions aided by the government, are exempted from payment of the house tax.

However, under the municipal laws governing the municipal corporations, municipalities and town panchayats, all buildings used for educational purposes are exempted from payment of property tax.  
The Third Finance Commission has, among others, recommended that the provisions exempting all educational institutions from payment of property tax shall be removed.

“Based on the above recommendations, the government has decided to do away with the exemption given from payment of property tax for all the buildings used for educational purposes, except those that are run by the government or corporation or any other local authority or institutions aided by the government. It was also decided to have uniformity in the assessment of property tax,” the Bill further said.