MCCI terms property prices undervalued

Demands amendment to ITO 2001 nonetheless

MULTAN: After years of bureaucratic ineptitude, government finally decided to do right by the people and change the immovable property evaluation formula in order to control black money, bolster taxes and stymie corruption, however, industrialists have spoken up against the move and are demanding for the formula to be reverted to its original form.

Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) has reiterated its demand to withdraw the amendment made in Section 68 of the Income Tax Ordinance (ITO) 2001, allowing State Bank of Pakistan’s evaluators  to determine the fair market value of immovable property.



MCCI demand is based on the premise that the change would create an overly litigious environment and would go against the spirit of the 18th amendment, whereby property remains the purview of the provinces, according to MCCI President Fareed Mughis Sheikh.

An alternative plan that MCCI proposed for valuation formula would be through market surveys, however if these surveys are anything like population census then it remains wishful thinking.

MCCI chief agreed that the real estate valuation on paper ought to be doubled till a better plan emerged, however, this alone constitutes an admission of tax evasion on a national scale. He also called for the taxes on property transaction to be revised downwards accordingly.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 5^th, 2016.

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