Pay up: No raise in token tax default fine yet

LAHORE:

Following the apparent success of the token tax collection campaign, the Excise and Taxation (E&T) Department has decided to defer the increase in fine on non-payment of token tax till the end of the month, The Express Tribune has learnt.

In December, the E&T Department had announced amnesty for vehicle owners to pay token taxes without fine till January 1. After that, the department announced a nominal fine of five per cent, which would increase by five per cent every 15 days. The fine increased to 10 per cent on January 16. On the E&T director’s orders, the five per cent raise in fine on February 1 has been withheld. According to the new orders, the fine would increase again on February 16.

E&T officials said they had managed to collect Rs3 billion compared to Rs2.68 billion collected last year.

The annual target for Region C (motoring branch) is Rs5.2 billion. It includes token taxes, life time token taxes, transfer fees and registration of new vehicles. The officials said the department had managed to collect Rs330 million as token taxes till January 1, whereas they had managed to collect only Rs289 million in January last year.

The department has also managed to collect more revenue under the head of life-time token tax in 2014. In 2013, the department had collected Rs428 million, Rs456 million was collected in January 2014.

The department has launched a crackdown against vehicle owners who still haven’t paid their token tax.  An SMS service has also been launched for vehicle owners to check vehicles’ ownership and tax payment records.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 10^th, 2014.