PAYING taxes is never easy. It took me three trips, each consuming the best part of the working day to pay my vehicle tax. And that too with the help of a friend.
I heaved a sigh of relief when it was announced that from first of January, the MVT would be converted into a road user’s tax and added to the price of petrol, as in a more advanced country. I thought to myself, “Ah ha! At last we are progressing. No more standing in long queues in the sweltering sun”. And no more pestering by commission agents who for a consideration of course, promise to get the work down by the back door.
But alas! When the time came to pay, my hopes were dashed. The powers that be got cold feet. Or the bureaucratic minds in Islamabad could not decide how to couple the tax with the frequently rising — and not so frequently falling — price of gasoline.
Reluctantly I, left my work and headed for the nearest branch of the bank where the tax was to be paid. I put the matter off until the last week of the month, hoping that by then, most of the others would have paid and there would not be the usual long, serpentine line at the window. As an added precaution, I arrived at least a quarter of an hour earlier. Even so I, was dismayed to see about a dozen other early birds all holding their registration books in their hands. And more were dribbling in.
Hope lit up all faces when, surprisingly, the window opened promptly at 9am. Some peeped in and saw the computer operator trying to switch his machine on. But the monitor before him remained blank. Glancing up at the inquisitive faces crowding his window the operator declared by way of an excuse “It’s at least twenty years old and at times acts temperamental”.
Soon he gave up the attempt and lay back, staring blankly at the blank screen.
“What’s the matter?” asked the man at the head of the line while. Those behind him impatiently shuffled their feet.
“I think they haven’t switched on the master computer at the Civic Centre”, came the answer. “Until then we cannot start. All computers are linked to it”.
“Why don’t you ring them up?”
“I tried, but there’s no answer”.
We passed another hour, our faces growing longer by the minute. People kept looking at their watches impatiently. It was now well past ten O’clock.
I amused myself by observing the other people in the line.
One man, who did not want to waste the time read a paper. In the meantime, two ladies came in and the courteous men allowed them to go to the head of the line. They peeped through the window hopefully holding out their papers. But the man inside shook his head and pointed to the blank monitor.
“Its not working,” explained a man near them.
“I left my office saying I’d be back in an hour”, said one lady who looked like a secretary. “Now I don’t know how long this will take!”
“The window closes at 1.30 sharp, whether the computer works or not”, declared a pessimist near the end of the line.
“Sometimes it closes earlier if the electricity goes off”, added another, prophetically, as it turned out.
“Then I suppose its no use wasting our time”, said the lady to her companion.
Just then the operator came out. “I’ll go to the next office and phone them again”, he said and strode away. He returned in about twenty minutes, with the satisfied look of a man who had just enjoyed a cup of tea and a snack. Seeing our questioning faces he announced, “They said they’ll pass on the message”. He then went into his office, shut the door and sat down resignedly.
Another half hour passed while the people in the queue shuffled their feet, glanced at their watches and the man with the newspaper turned a page.
Then the computer came on with a click and the operator shouted for the papers of the first lady. She handed them in quickly. After they had been checked and the buzzing printer had ejected a receipt, he gave it to her. But he did not return her registration book.
“Now what?” she asked staring at it in a puzzled manner. “He has not returned my book”.
“You take this printout into the bank through that door and pay the money”, said a man helpfully. “He will stamp it as proof of payment. Then you will get your book back from here duly stamped”.
“Why doesn’t the man with the computer do all this?”
“Because only the bank cashier can be entrusted with the money, not the computer operator”.
The lady went off muttering “no wonder we are a third world country. We do everything the long and the wrong way”.
Then the computer went blank again. There was groan of disappointment from the leading men.
“Now what?” asked an irritated voice from its centre.
“The electricity has failed”.
Slowly some in the queue began to melt away muttering, “sometimes it remains off for hours on end”. Incidentally the date for registration had to be extended twice to make up for such unexpected delays.
I too decided I could not waste any more time.
The last remark I heard was by a man who looked like a contractor: “It’s far easier and cheaper to fold a hundred rupee note into one’s unrenewed registration book as you hand it to a checking police officer. This is how the government indirectly encourages bribery and cheating. I’ve already lost a day of my work. The dozen odd people here must have also lost their work for the day. If we calculate just 200 rupees for each of them it comes to over two thousand. This tax not only taxes your pocket but also your patience”.
The following morning I returned. Again I waited for an hour or so for the cranky old computer to start. It did not. Now I too had reached the end of my patience. Much as I hated to do it I went into the bank. There I pleaded to a friend to send in my papers for stamping after working hours.
No relief in sight
WHILE the masses continue to go through the excruciating grind of paying Motor Vehicle Tax every six months, the government is taking its time in assessing the pros and cons of introducing the Road User Tax even though a policy decision in this regard was taken long ago. As things stand today, there is hardly any chance of the RUT getting implemented any time this year.
Javed Memon, Sindh Director of Excise and Taxation, says the ball is in the court of the federal government. “The delay is mainly because the federal government has yet to take a final decision. On the part of the provinces, almost everything has been taken care of, and they are ready to put it in practice at a short notice once the decision has been taken by Islamabad,” he says.
“The delay is most probably because the RUT mechanism is still not in place. For instance, we don’t know how to exempt the users of tractors and generators who will also be buying petrol while not falling under the RUT category. Things like these have yet to be worked out,” he added.
He conceded that the public was facing problems as people cannot pay the tax for more than six months at a time, which is a big hassle in view of the long queues that mark the whole process. But, he said, his department was totally helpless in providing any relief to the masses. “The delay is affecting the recovery drive of my own department, but I cannot do anything,” he said. Maybe someone in Islamabad can. — By Atif Khan
PAYING taxes is never easy. It took me three trips, each consuming the best part of the working day to pay my vehicle tax. And that too with the help of a friend.
