KARACHI: The collection of property tax witnessed unprecedented growth of 214 percent owing to back to back increase in valuation of immovable properties by Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), sources said.
The quarterly data released by the finance ministry revealed that the provinces had collected property tax to the tune of Rs7.8 billion during first quarter (July – September) 2019/2020 as compared with Rs2.48 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.
The sources attributed the significant rise in property tax to increase in FBR valuation which was introduced in August 2016 and increased by 20 percent in February 2019 and further increased with the same ratio in July 2019.
The provinces have jurisdiction over the collection of property tax in the shape of rented properties in their respective localities.
The sources said that with the increase of FBR valuation the provinces could able to increase their revenue because the rent agreements are being made on the basis of existing valuation.
On the other hand the valuations of immovable properties notified by the provinces are very low comparing the open market values. However, under the proposed reform program funded by the World Bank the provinces may review their valuations of immovable properties.
The major increase in property tax comes from Punjab as the province collected Rs6 billion during first quarter of the current fiscal year.
It was followed by Sindh, which collected Rs1.5 billion, Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa collected Rs243 million and Balochistan collected Rs89 million.
The sources said that digitalization of property record and effective measures of documentation would further help the provinces to increase the revenue collection under the head of property tax.
