MARDAN, May 6: Residents of Mardan have expressed concern over the imposition of property tax in the district and termed it a cruel and unfair practice.

The house tax bill was introduced by the coalition government of Awami National Party and Pakistan Muslim League in 1997 in the NWFP assembly. The bill was passed with the majority.

People have criticized the tax and said that they had cast votes for the two parties to solve their problems and not to loot them by imposing new taxes.

The excise and taxation department officials have started survey and are collecting data about the residential areas of the district.

An Assistant Tax Officer told Dawn that the provincial government had imposed the tax on all houses irrespective of their sizes and locations. The E&T employees are asking the residents to pay the tax in time or be ready to face the legal action.

The ATO said that the department was collecting the tax at the rate of Rs810 per house measuring one to five marla, Rs1,620 from five to 10 marla houses, Rs2,160 from 10 to 15 marla houses, and Rs3,240 from 15 to 20 marla houses.

The officer said that the department had given ads both in the electronic and print media, advising the residents to pay the tax. In case of nonpayment, he pointed out, the department would issue a number of notices to the defaulters and finally arrest warrants.

The ATO said that the department had collected Rs7 million property tax from the residents of Mardan during the current year.

Criticizing the tax, people said that earlier the houses measuring up to three marlas were exempted from the tax but the present government had included even those houses in the tax net. They termed it unfair and injustice with the poor.

A resident of Par Hoti, Ashfaq Khan, told Dawn that people would never accept such taxes. He said that people were unemployed and had been provided with no facilities from the government and asked why they should pay tax to the government. He said that they were calling a meeting of the residents to discuss the matter and take a decision.