PESHAWAR: “An endeavour to improve provincial revenue through increasing vehicle registration, the provincial government has announced to introduce universal vehicle number plate system from next year.”

This was disclosed by Special Assistant to Chief Minister (SACM) on Excise and Taxation, Syed Ghazi Ghazan Jamal while briefing the media regarding two years performance of his department, here on Thursday.

He said that the tax ratio has been reduced for existing taxpayers, while initiatives have been made to bring new people under the tax net.

This year, he said the department has recovered Rs two billion so far on head of various taxes, with additional collection over Rs 180 million as compared to previous year that showed an increase of 143 percent against the last year.

KP was the first, which had passed Narcotics Substance Act 2019, which is the biggest achievement of the department, the CM aide said.

Excise police stations have been established in five divisional districts under the Act, he added.

Flanked by Special Assistant to Chief Minister (SACM) on Information, Kamran Bangash, he said that the provincial government is working on historic tax-reforms agenda, saying that the concession on property tax has been increased from 10 to 20 percent, while duration for taking benefit from this discount, has been increased from two to eight months.

Similarly, he said that 30 percent rebate on payment of property tax in single instalment, while 25 percent rebate on payment through different installations is being offered. He said the tax collection ratio remained 86 percent during two quarters of the current financial year, according to Rs two billion had so far recovered.

For establishment of a separate wing for anti-narcotics, Ghazan said that a total of 168 positions have been created on which hiring process has been initiated, adding that the training of staff on modern lines also began.

In order to eradicate the menace of narcotics, SACM said that a crackdown has been launched through applying a mapping system in the relevant areas.

In order to end collection of dual taxes, he said that taxes had been waived off on 18 items. He said the self-tax collectors system was launched for actual determination of tax, whereas GIS mapping survey is being carried out in tax wards.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021