IN a recent judgement, the Sindh High Court (SHC) clearly declared that the cantonment boards were not authorised to collect property tax from the municipal areas outside the cantonments. Yet, the Sindh Assembly later legislated a bill granting the cantonment boards the authority to collect property tax on behalf of the provincial government.

This is gross injustice, as property tax rates for cantonment boards are substan- tially higher than those being charged by the provincial government. In the cantonments, the aggregate area in the approved building plan is considered ‘covered area’ for the computation of property tax as against the rational basis of considering only the built-up area.

Abrupt increase in taxation rates with retrospective effect and the imposition of late payment surcharge on such arrears is a norm. There has always been a general acceptance/tolerance of these unreasonable rates as former army personnel and retired government officials do not get affected becasue they enjoy exemptions on this count.

Due to this very reason, the bulk of the cantonment property tax has always been collected from the civilians residing in societies falling under the jurisdiction of cantonment boards. However, it is ironic that there has literally been zero spending on the upkeep or development of civic amenities in these societies.

The provincial government should harmonise taxation rates. Besides, the cantonment boards should be made to hand over the property tax collected from civilian areas during the last 10 years to the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), which, in turn, should earmark this amount for undertaking development projects in these long-neglected societies.

Muhammad Ali Baig
Karachi

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2024