Property tax evasion is now under strict scrutiny as the Excise and Taxation Department has launched a crackdown on both officials and taxpayers involved in malpractice.
Director General (DG) Excise, Umar Sher Chatha, personally carried out field visits in Zone 13 of Lahore, where he inspected various properties and detected 93 buildings that had not been entered into the tax net.
During the inspection, the DG dismissed the concerned inspector from service and issued a show-cause notice to the Excise and Taxation Officer (ETO) of the area. According to officials, these properties had been constructed three to four years ago, but no tax assessment was carried out, causing a significant loss to the provincial exchequer.
Just two days earlier, DG Excise had pointed out irregularities in both commercial and domestic properties. He stressed that negligence in property tax assessment cannot be tolerated any longer.
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He further instructed all directors across regions to ensure that their respective ETOs verify at least 25 percent of properties in every zone personally and submit detailed reports to the DG office.
Officials believe that by bringing new properties into the system, the government can generate revenue worth billions of rupees.
