Sir: A few days ago, I visited the General Post Office (GPO) at Melody Food Park Islamabad to submit the yearly token tax of my vehicle. After standing for two hours in a queue, my turn came and the tax collection officer asked me to submit Rs 7,634. When I sought the break-up of the amount, she said Rs 5,000 is the yearly tax, Rs 384 is withholding tax and Rs 2,250 is outstanding amount pertaining to the previous year. I was shocked to hear that because I had already submitted my last year’s tax, but due to her rude behaviour, I paid Rs 7,640 at that time. Later, on the same day, I visited GPO again and told a senior officer that I have paid my last year’s tax and your staff is deducting my tax for the second time. I also told him that she has taken Rs 2250 in excess. On my questions, the senior officer understood that I knew each and every thing about the matter, so he apologised and returned the extra deducted money to me. It is not of much importance that he returned my money but the problem is that tax collection officers are involved in corruption. They are looting the public with impunity. Let’s assume if they charge Rs 500 extra to each person that means they are earning millions of rupees in a single day.
Another cause of concern is the government’s apathy to the issue because everyone knows that the process of tax collection starts in May to July so the government should establish special counters to give relief to the people who want to submit their taxes. At the GPO Melody Food Park Islamabad only two counters have been allocated for tax collection and the hundreds of people have to wait for hours to submit their tax amounts. In this hurry, nobody asks how much the tax collection officer is deducting because of a hectic wait.
In order to tackle this situation, the government should set up more counters to help the people who want to submit their taxes. If the government takes this step, you will see that more people will submit their tax amounts and revenue will be increased as well as the chances of corruption will be decreased.
WAQAS LIAQAT WARRAICH
Islamabad