Daily Times

Secretary Excise, Taxation and Secretary Information and Culture Punjab, Asif Balal Lodhi said on Thursday that the property tax assessment system was being converted to a capital value tax system to minimize the complaints of citizens regarding property tax.

He expressed these views while talking to journalists during a visit to the excise office to review the tax recovery situation here on Thursday. He said that the rates of property tax were being assessed with DC rates first and added that it was being converted to the latest value system for the satisfaction of the people.

He said that they were striving to implement this system by the next fiscal year and added that there were two main issues of the department including transparency in property tax and issuance of number plates.

He said that the issues of number plates and smart cards were being resolved gradually as they had released one lac number plates in the last 15 days and added that they had revised the agreement with Pakistan Post for quick delivery of plates and cards to citizens.

Secretary Excise further said that the vehicle registration system was being made easier and the vehicle owners could check the status of their vehicles easily through the tracking system soon. He, however, maintained that the provincial government has launched ‘Go Punjab’ App in which excise related information was also available.

About tax targets, Mr Asif informed that Rs 43 billion total excise tax target was set across the province for current year and added that they had achieved 50 percent target so far and hoped that they would easily achieve the target despite 35 percent less registration of vehicles this year.

To a question about biometric, Secretary said that the provincial government has given two months’ relaxation in biometrics of vehicles and hoped that the backlog of vehicles would be cleared during this period.

He said that about Rs 24 billion pending dues on dead defaulters in the province and they had set Rs four billion recovery targets from dead defaulters this year.

He said that state of the art excise office building would be built in Multan and a police station also be set up there.

Asif Balal said that digital mapping of all art forms and private arts schools would be made with the help of the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) to promote culture.

He said that the mega package for journalists of the city was in final stages and Punjab Chief Minister would announce it soon. On this occasion, Director Excise Multan Jam Siraj Ahmad, Director Bahawalpur Abdullah Khan, Deputy director Admin Khalid Qasoori and other officials were present.