KARACHI:
I am a retired salaried citizen living on a meagre pension since mid-70s being drawn from a semi-autonomous corporation. I have paid taxes all my life. Since 1996, I have been residing in DHA Lahore. Recently, the rates of properties in this housing society have been raised by 20% while property tax has been raised to almost 400%. This raise is not proportionate to the tax levied on properties in other parts of Lahore. In 2020 and 2021, I paid Rs18,386 as property tax and Rs7,200 as conservancy charges which came to a total of Rs25,586 per annum. But in 2022, WCB unilaterally increased the property tax by 4.85 times to Rs89, 217, which is an increase of 385.2% while conservancy charges were raised by 66.67% to Rs12,000. Thus, totaling Rs101,217 per annum.
Such housing societies have been carved out of the land owned by the Punjab government for the welfare of a particular group. Most of the beneficiaries of these subsidised allotments sold their plots to civilians who now form majority of the residents of such societies. These societies are, therefore, not expected to become party to burden others. All over the world senior citizens, especially taxpayers and tax filers, are provided welfare services by the state rather than being burdened in an age when medical issues curtail capability to earn. Pension given by semi-autonomous is not enough for people to make both ends meet, as against those who retired from government organisations and draw far better pension. If the state has obligation to cater for the welfare of its paid employees, it also has an obligation towards those whose taxes fund the salaries and the federal budget, on which the national security hinges.
Malik Tariq Ali
Lahore
Published in The Express Tribune, August 6th, 2022.
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