Chennai Corporation fixes property tax rate for private schools, colleges

CHENNAI: The Greater Chennai Corporation on Monday fixed property tax rate for private school and colleges following the January 11 order by the Tamil Nadu government which abolished exemption granted to these institutions.
The state government amended the Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919 to abolish the exemption from paying property tax granted to private educational institutions in the city. Across Tamil Nadu, this change was effected in the municipal corporations of Madurai and Coimbatore besides other municipalities.

On Monday, the city corporation said that it would evaluate private educational institutions based on the existing slab applied to residential buildings in the locality. A 60% surcharge will be added to this amount during assessment. For example, this means that in an area like T Nagar, where the lowest tax rate is Rs 1 per square foot for houses, a school of 2,000 square foot area will have to pay at least Rs 3,200 as property tax every six months.

When TOI carried the report on the government abolishing the exemption on January 11, private school administrations were critical of the move. They hinted that this would result in school fees going up. Corporation officials told TOI that they did not expect a significant increase in the property tax collection figures due to this change.