LAHORE: The Punjab Finance Act of 2011 introduced a tax called the water conservancy charge on residential and commercial swimming pools larger than 250 square feet. This is a flat per annum charge of Rs60,000, which I think is unfair to homeowners on the following counts:
1) Some of the swimming pools are either permanently out of service or are never used. These should not be taxed.
2) In some areas, housing societies like DHA, Lahore, provide water to their residents and charge them for water on usage basis. So, people having and using swimming pools pay water charges accordingly. Why, then, should they have to pay an additional tax, and that, too, on something that the government is not providing them?
3) A properly maintained swimming pool, once filled, does not need to be replenished for six months. Moreover, a majority of the swimming pools are only used for four to five months when the weather is hot. Hence, most residential pools are filled and drained only once a year. Surely, Rs60,000 is too high a charge for a one-time fill.
4) Putting residential swimming pools in the same category as commercial swimming pools does not make sense.
While I support the government’s efforts to enhance its revenue streams, I also believe that all taxes should be planned and implemented wisely and fairly. I urge the authorities concerned to exempt residential swimming pools that are unused or are in areas where the housing society charges for water on use-basis, from this tax. For pools not falling in these two categories, the tax should be revised down to around Rs5,000 per annum.
Adeel Ahmed
Published in The Express Tribune, November 2nd, 2012.
