LAHORE, Sept 30: The excise and taxation department has served property tax re-assessment notices on all five-marla and smaller houses in the city in spite of the fact the properties had been exempted from payment of the tax by a law that has been in force after its passage by the Punjab Assembly two years ago.

A number of residents of Gulshan-i-Ravi, Allama Iqbal Town, Johar Town and Township told this reporter on Saturday they owned three to four-and-a-half marla houses and used them for residential purposes.

Jamshed Ahmad of Gulshan-i-Ravi, Asghar of Allama Iqbal Town, Salim of Johar Town, Allauddin Khan of Township had not been paying property tax for the last two years for their three to less than five marla houses.

They have been served notices by the department’s assessing authorities to provide details about the structures on their properties.

The details were being sought in connection with the ongoing five-year property tax assessment survey and the notice warned that if the particulars were not submitted within 30 days the department itself would decide the tax rate and the owner would not be able to challenge them under the Punjab Urban Immovable Property Tax Act 1958. —Staff Reporter