Howzat! Municipal Premier League to boost tax revenue

The Coimbatore city municipal corporation is planning to improve tax collection by motivating officials and recognising their contributions through an exciting contest in line with the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The civic body took to Twitter on Saturday to announce Municipal Premier League (MPL). It has roped in Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, a Bengaluru-based non-profit organization, to carry out a slew of measures to motivate employees and improve revenue generation.
A tweet from Janaagraha read, “We are delighted to be partnering with Coimbatore corporation for the first ever Municipal Premier League in Coimbatore. Through MPL, we aim to achieve financial sustainability, recognize and reward the revenue officials for their contributions.”
The initiative aims to enhance revenue of the local body, build a digital ecosystem to improve digital payment, improve transparency in tax collection and train the employees involved in revenue collection.
“Apart from improving collection in a stipulated time period, the initiative will also help to increase the share of tax amount received through digital transactions,” a source said.
The Coimbatore corporation is trying to stabilize its financial position by eliminating unnecessary spending and improving revenue resources. Collection of revenue through taxes and non-taxes such as rentals are being monitored by corporation commissioner Raja Gopal Sunkara.
Data available with the corporation shows that by the end of September, the civic body had collected only 38% of property tax, 10% of vacant land tax and 22% of the water charges for the financial year 2021-22.
“There is a provision to collect charges from every household towards garbage collection and processing as per the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. However, the civic body has not collected it so far as it might not go well with residents and politicians,” an official said.