PESHAWAR, March 6: The NWFP excise and taxation department on Tuesday rejected a claim of the Cantonment Board of Peshawar (CBP) on professional tax and said it was a provincial subject protected under the 1973 Constitution.

NWFP Excise and Taxation Director-General Nasir Khan pointed out that article 163 of the Constitution authorised the province to collect professional tax from areas falling in the jurisdiction of a cantonment area.

He made these comments in response to concerns raised by a number of traders who have their businesses in the cantonment areas at a meeting held at the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) here.

An SRO of the ministry of defence issued on October 12, 2004 had empowered the CBP to collect the professional tax from the areas falling in its ambit under section 60 of the Cantonments Act, 1924 (II of 1924).

At present the CBP is collecting the professional tax from traders and shopkeepers doing business in the cantonment areas, while at the same time the provincial excise and taxation department is also demanding the same tax from the traders.

“This situation had confronted the traders, compelling them to pay dual taxes because none of the two entities was ready to withdraw from their stand,” Sharafat Ali Mubarik, former senior vice-president of the SCCI, told the director-general.

Nasir Khan said the provincial government had constitutional cover to collect such tax from the cantonment areas and the department had to perform its duty accordingly.

Referring to the ongoing reform process in the tax management and administration, Mr Khan said the department was launching a one-window operation for the registration of vehicles. Under the new system, vehicle owners would be given registration and original files within 24 hours.

He said that over the last seven years, the department did not impose any new tax, adding that even then the overall volume of tax collection was increasing each year.

Mr Khan pointed out that his department had been given a tax recovery target of Rs1.40 billion for the current fiscal year.

He informed the traders that the record of property tax was being computerised, adding that so far 70,000 property taxpayers had been placed under the main database.

Giving details about a drive to counter the growing use of illegal personalised number plats of vehicles, the DG informed the traders that his department had fined owners of 181 vehicles and recovered Rs2.23 million as penalty from them.