KARACHI, March 17: Provincial Excise and Taxation Minister Mohammad Abdul Rauf Siddiqui, on Monday said that the motor vehicle tax (MVT) record would be computerized within six months, which, he hoped, would eliminate corruption in the MVT wing of the department.
Talking to the members of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), he asked the vehicle dealers to bring some proof of corruption against excise officials so that such officials could be handed over to the National Accountability Bureau.
He admitted that corruption was rampant in the department, adding that the people who intended to meet him in his office were being charged Rs500, due to which, he said, he had issued orders to open the doors of his office after 1pm.
He asked the businessmen that they should form an advisory committee in consultation with other chambers in the province and come up with some tangible solutions of various problems being faced by them.
He added that the committee should evolve some strategy to increase the government revenues and to provide maximum facilities to the businessmen and industrialists.
He said that he allowed the collection of taxes in the regional offices by amending the laws, so that the people coming from interior Sindh to Karachi, just to pay their property tax, could do so in their respective localities. “I am ready to do whatever I can,” he assured the businessmen.
The minister said that during his recent visit to Saudi Arabia and Middle East, he asked the businessmen to invest in Pakistan, adding that it was important that the investors be given clear picture of the situation and their investments should be provided security.
He said that the present government could not accept the responsibility of the wrong doings of the past but it would not use it as an excuse to avoid its own responsibilities.
He said that ignorance of the people about tax ratio, payable on their property, caused 80 per cent of the corruption in the ET department, adding that he had directed the officials to prepare simple and clear booklets to help the tax payers calculate the tax for motor registration and property.
He said that he had sent a summery to the chief minister suggesting enhancement of the exemption limit of the property tax from Rs10,000 to Rs15,000 rental value of the property belonging to the retired government employees.—APP
