Excise and taxation: Dept to step up token tax checks, even on own vehicles

Teams to conduct checks at five points in city from Monday.

LAHORE:

The Excise and Taxation Department has stepped up checks on cars with unpaid token tax and set up a team to conduct checks every day from next week, but many of the cars used by the department are without valid tokens.

The Excise and Taxation Department owns more than 70 cars. The Express Tribune has obtained copies of registration documents for at least 10 department vehicles for which token tax has not been paid. Officials of the department also admitted, off the record, that tax had not been paid on most of the cars.

Before the launch of general holdup operations to check cars last week, Excise and Taxation Secretary Captain (r) Zahid Saeed, in a meeting on November 8, instructed directors and other officials at the department to ensure that their vehicles are registered. He said that the department planned to check official vehicles down the line too and it would be embarrassing if its own cars were not up to date in terms of token tax payments.

Saeed, talking to The Express Tribune, admitted that he knew for sure only that token tax had been paid on the car he was using. He confirmed that he had instructed officials to get the tax paid on their vehicles. “Excise and Taxation should lead by example in getting up to date tokens. I will inquire into the matter on Monday,” he said.

The Excise and Taxation Department issued a new policy on July 1 mandating that all cars of 1,000cc capacity or less were to pay a lifetime token tax of Rs10,000, excluding professional tax and income tax. As per the policy, cars being registered for the first time or cars being transferred were to pay the lifetime token tax, plus one year of income tax and professional tax (Rs950 combined). For old cars, the owner would pay the lifetime fee minus Rs540-600 per year of tax paid.

Checking teams

E&T Region Director Masudul Haq has ordered that five teams be set up to check cars at Saggian, Thokar Niaz Beg, Babu Sabu, near Alhamra on The Mall, and at the Liberty Roundabout from Monday.

Each team would include an E&T Department inspectors, two constables, two data entry operators and a traffic warden. The department has asked the traffic police to supply five wardens.

In checks on cars of 1,000cc and below at Shahdara, Saggian Bridge, Babu Sabu, Liberty Market, Walton Road and Baghbanpura by 75 department personnel last Wednesday, officials confiscated documents for 600 cars for not paying token tax. Around 4,500 cars were stopped for checking.

The officials concerned said that those fined on Wednesday included motorists who had paid the old one-year tax for their vehicles in July, but not the lifetime tax. They said that while the Excise and Taxation Department had introduced the lifetime token tax on July 1, the General Post Office had continued to collect yearly token fees for cars of 1,000cc or below during July, until it was told not to by the department. The officials said that these motorists were still required to get the lifetime token and would be fined if they were stopped by inspectors. They said that they could get the cost of this year’s token excluded from the cost of the lifetime token.

Motoring and Registration Authority official Azhar Tariq said that daily checks on vehicles would be conducted from Monday. He said that the late registration fee would be waived for car owners who came forward to pay token tax now. He said that a letter would be written to the office of the assistant commissioner for Inland Revenue on Tuesday inviting them to join the enforcement operation.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 19^th, 2012.