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Seeing tweets where people are extremely upset with the steep increase in property taxes by the Chennai Corporation. This is a natural and expected reaction. I am also able to understand why the government is doing what it is doing. Let me explain. I do not know about every single property in Chennai. But I do know that the property taxes paid by many property owners are a pittance. Take our own case. Given the sale value of our flat and its potential rental yield, we literally pay an insignificant amount as property tax. I have no idea why it has been set that way. The government might have felt that this is low hanging fruit to raise revenue for urban development. Let me share some more thoughts: When the Prime Minister asked well to do people to give up LPG subsidies, our family was also among those who gave it up. Now the Tamil Nadu electricity department gives free 200 units to everyone, including us. We don’t need any subsidies from the government. But there is no mechanism to give it up. What is the need for providing free electricity to people who are doing financially well? Given the electricity department’s fiscal health, I wouldn’t be surprised if this issue gets addressed in some form. Already, the media is regularly reporting that the government is working on closing the huge gap between market and guideline value. This would eliminate black money and corruption and make the guideline value reflective of market value. But since the guideline values are being revised upward, the cost of registration would go up. Revenue for the government would also rise significantly. Reforms are good to hear. But no meaningful reform is possible without the system going through at least some amount of pain. Just thought of sharing my thoughts on why what is happening is happening.