The cash-starved Cantonment Board Rawalpindi (RCB) has increased residential and commercial property taxes after jacking up the annual rental value of properties up to 1,000 per cent.
The RCB has sent heavy bills with a 15 per cent increase under the head of property tax (after increasing the annual rental value) to the citizens who have already been buckling under the financial pressure.
According to the cantonment board’s property tax formula, the owner of residential property has to pay 20 per cent of property tax on the annual rental value and 30 per cent property tax on commercial property.
But now the annual rental value has been increased by the RCB to such an extent that if the owner was supposed to pay an annual tax of Rs50,000, he will have to pay Rs100,000.
The same is true of residential and commercial properties rented out by property owners and by increasing their annual rental value by more than a thousand times over the market rate, notices have been issued to pay 15 per cent annual property tax.
The notices issued are so heavy that they have greatly increased the troubles of the already financially burdened citizens.
Public representatives of RCB have also expressed concern over the huge increase in taxes after jacking up the rental value of properties more than a thousand times and demanded relief to the citizens in the severe wave of inflation.
On the other hand, the business community has also expressed deep concern over the increase in the annual rental value of commercial properties. Anjuman-e-Tajiran Rawalpindi Cantonment General Secretary Zafar Qadri said that the cantonment board has issued property tax notices to traders and the residents who were already facing a depressing situation in terms of inflation and businesses.
He said that the rental value is assessed even higher than the market rate, the market rate is applied to the old tenant and the property tax is greatly increased retrospectively after the tax assessment of previous years.
Zafar Qadri said that he had conveyed his concerns over the current system of property tax to the Cantonment board authorities but the issue has not yet been resolved.
Meanwhile, RCB Tax Superintendent Ayub Tabassum said that “we carry out self-assessment of residential buildings and commercial buildings according to the market rate and the tax is collected at the rate of 20 to 30 per cent after assessing the annual rental value of properties according to the market rate. “Only then, we send notices to collect 15 per cent tax on it and if anyone has any objection, they can appear before the assessment committee and present their position,” he said adding that according to the decision, property tax is levied on the rental value of establishments.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 28th, 2022.
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