Taxation row: Citizens irked by exorbitant property tax notifications

Department legally bound to conduct property survey every five years

OKARA: The excise department’s property tax wing was seen overcrowded with taxpayers to get their new tax notifications corrected as the heavy increase in property tax by the Punjab excise department has created a fuss for the citizens.

This year the excise department issued the property tax collection notices to property owners which were up to 300% higher than the previous years. The situation has surfaced due to the imposition of tax according to the field survey by the department officials in mid of 2014. This survey was conducted after 12 years although the department was legally bound to conduct it after every five years.

The survey assesses the tax amount based on category of properties and total area with covered and the uncovered space of the property.

This year the property tax notifications were issued according to the survey conducted in 2014 keeping in view value of the property and the rental assessments of the property area. The survey was not implemented as the tax increase was shaped as 50% in 2015, 60% in 2016 and 70% in 2017.

The conflicting situation developed as the taxpayers were familiar to the annual 10% increase in property tax but such a heavy increase came as a shock for the tax payers and they had to rush to the offices to clarify why there was such a hike in property taxes.

Interestingly, the computerised tax notices have been issued for the first time and it was told to the property owners that the staff was unable to amend this amount as the notices had been issued according to the tax formula fed to the software.

The explanation given by the excise department caused further confusion for taxpayers who expressed reluctance to pay the exorbitant amount. The people who regularly deposited their yearly tax were also forced to pay the new tax amount according to the formula made of 50% to 70% surge at the time of getting the clearance certificate of the dues at the time of sale or purchase of any property.

District Excise and Taxation Officer Rana Khalid Pervaiz told The Express Tribune that the tax survey was implemented after more than 14 years and the computerised system has still many errors in the tax notifications issued. The staff of the property tax wing was busy correcting these notifications manually. He, however, was reluctant to figure out the tax percentage formula on annual bases. The taxpayers who are the ultimate sufferer had strongly protested and demanded of the government to resolve the situation and not to burden the taxpayers with their own negligence of not conducted the field survey for 14 years.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 28^th, 2017.