"Certain colonies are paying less tax
than their market values warranted as
they are placed in a lower category," says Humayun MazharSheikh. DESIGN: ESSA MALIK
The Caretaker Punjab cabinet granted approval on Monday to conducting a fresh property survey throughout the Punjab. Chief Minister Najam Sethis while presided over the meeting. The cabinet further decided that a notice would be published in newspapers to inform the public before starting the survey.
Provincial ministers, the chief minister’s advisor on taxation and revenue, the chief secretary, provincial secretaries and the officers concerned were present. Earlier, the excise and taxation secretary briefed the meeting about property tax issues while the Housing secretary spoke about the Water and Sanitation Agency’s issues.
Sethi said a survey of properties should be conducted every five years to re-assess their worth. He noted that no such survey had been conducted for 12 years.
He said that property survey would be started from April 26 and would end by June 30. He said the public must be made aware of the survey before it is launched. Sethi said tenancy laws must be improved and directed that practical measures should be taken for this purpose. He said that five-marla houses will continue to be exempt from property tax.
The chief minister said that the property survey should be conducted in a transparent manner and there should also be a third-party audit. He said the action plan approved for the property survey should be fully implemented and effective monitoring of the survey should be ensured.
The chief minister said that effective measures should be taken for improving the efficiency of all Wasa institutions. He said that a proposal for outsourcing the recovery of Wasa arrears should be given serious consideration. He said that a business plan should be made for capacity-building in WASA.
Sethi said that there was need for immediate, mid-term and long-term measures for building the Wasa’s public service capacity. He said funds had been provided to the Wasa for the purchase of new generators and for other requirements and now it was its responsibility to ensure satisfactory supply of water to citizens of all areas.
He said that in case of water shortage due to loadshedding or any other reason, water should be supplied through tankers. The chief minister set up a committee headed by Minister for Planning and Commerce Arif Ejaz for formulating and submitting recommendations on capacity-building of the Wasa and improvement of recovery of arrears.
He also ordered a special campaign should be launched for the recovery of the Wasa’s arrears.
Excise and Taxation Department Director General Humayun Mazhar Sheikh said that the survey would be completed within two months. He said the government was currently collecting around Rs4 billion which included Rs2.5 billion in arrears. He said that after the survey he expected revenue generation to increase by Rs2 billion.
He said there were two benefits to the survey. First, hidden properties would be found out. Second, where appropriate, housing colonies could be re-categorised. He said currently certain colonies were paying less tax than their market values warranted as they were placed in a lower category.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 24th, 2013.
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