Coimbatore : The district units of CPM and CITU today accused the City Corporation of indulging in collecting increased property tax without discussing the issue with people.

Corporation officials increased the property tax on their own, in the absence of an elected civic body, party district secretary V Ramamurthy said.

Collecting the increased tax with back date and claiming that it came into effect from April 2018 was condemnable, he said.

There was a100 per cent increase in the property tax on small and medium industries which would lead to financial problems, as they were already burdened with GST.

The corporation should withdraw the increased tax with immediate effect and fix the rates only after the local body elections and discussing that with elected representatives, he said, adding that it should not threaten people with water and power supply did.

CITU district president C Padmanabhan said such an increase was never there in the history of the corporation, as the hike was only once in 10 years.

For houses it was 5-10 per cent increase and for commercial establishments 25 per cent, he added.