Tax evasion: Over 30 shops sealed. PHOTO: FILE
RAWALPINDI:
The Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) has sealed over 30 shops for non-payment of property tax in a crackdown on Tuesday.
The board had issued notices asking vendors to deposit their arrears from 2007-08 to 2013-14 till September 30. The directives were given by RCB Chief Executive Officer Rana Manzoor against traders whose arrears exceeded Rs100,000. A five per cent discount was announced for traders who pay taxes before the due date.
A delegation of the traders union met RCB officials to request them to accept payment of arrears in instalments. “Instead of cooperating with us, they threatened to seal our shops in case of failure to deposit the arrears,” alleged a union member.
Sharafat Malik, a shop owner, criticised the board’s decision, saying it was impossible for him to pay the amount in lump sum.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 25th, 2013.
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No tax payment for the last six yrs. was the board sleeping for so many yrs. the dept chief for property tax should be fired and sent home. If the traders can not pay the taxes , then auction their shops for the amount of the taxes with open bidding. Taxes have to be paid and on time . Period.
SYMPATHY
Tax authorities across the world are not sympathetic to the plight of the traders. Any reliefs to pay in instalments are attached with too many strings attached to render relief ineffective. Pakistan's tax authorities need to think out of the box rather than follow the pattern of western counterparts.
In some parts of the country the traders are paying another "tax" imposed on them by the "workers" of the political parties to keep the coffers full for the party.
Obviously the traders are not refusing to pay their due share of the tax, rather are requesting time to pay. We need to allow them a reasonable time period to settle their arrears. If a carrot-and-stick approach is needed, slap on penalties for late payments but please give them time.
We need a just taxation system not a draconian one.
Also, need to think about replacing the different taxes with Zakat. But lets educate the traders and the masses on Zakat first. One tax is much more efficient than several taxes.