The 'one-window' operation, it appears, has remained confined to newspaper columns and public statements by ministers. How this system, which has never worked perfectly, has been blown to pieces and how the tax payers are made to suffer can be seen at the counters of Excise and Taxation Department of Sindh government these days.
July is the busiest month when vehicle owners rush to pay their taxes. Previously, several banks were designated where taxation staff was posted to collect vehicles tax, but lately the tax collection points have been reduced, much to the discomfort and agony of tax payers.
The result is that long queues are seen where men and women wait for hours for their turn, facing all sorts of questioning from the 'rude and rough behaviour' of the excise and taxation staff. They do not show normal courtesy even to women.
Take the case of 'Awami Markaz' where motor vehicle tax is collected. First, one has to hand over the book to the staff who, in turn, give you a print-out containing details of the tax to be paid.
This printout is then taken to National Bank of Pakistan counter where tax is collected. Again, you go to the taxation counter where the staff, after ascertaining that you have paid the tax, return the book to the tax payer. Often, the taxation staff harass the tax payers by raising flimsy and bogus questions. For instance, a women at the Awami Markaz was seen protesting when she was asked to produce the old number of her car. The objection had no basis.
Her protest was genuine. Her argument was that the car was new and the number plate was given by the taxation department. She had no old number. She had a point. The matter was, however, resolved on the intervention of other tax payers who reprimanded the taxation staff for harassing the lady and raising bogus objection.
The tax payers were resenting the lengthy procedure adopted by the taxation department, ie, tossing the tax payers between different counters instead of collecting the tax at a single counter. To alleviate the problems of tax payers it is necessary that the number of tax collecting counters is increased in the city.