RAWALPINDI, Aug 22: The Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) has announced 15 per cent concession for those taxpayers who would deposit their house tax before September 30, it has been learnt.

The house tax bills have been sent to all the residents and other people having commercial property in the limits of the civic body, well-placed sources said. These bills are for the financial year 2004-05. The discount has been announced in order to encourage the people to deposit their property taxes in time.

The sources said it had also been announced that those tax- payers who fail to deposit the house tax by the given deadline would be deprived of five per cent concession meant for maintenance and repairs. On the other hand, the 10 per cent rebate will continue till June 30, 2005.

It is pertinent to mention here that this discount will apply only on the current year taxes and not the arrears. The outstanding dues will have to be paid in full for which separate notices are being issued, the sources said.

For the year 2004-05, the cantonment board has set a target of Rs80 million to be collected from property taxes, both residential and commercial. About 70 per cent of this amount will come from residential properties and the remaining will be collected as commercial taxes.

The sources said apart from this, the RCB had also detected some unassessed property worth millions of rupees owned by a former councillor. The councillor concerned, in connivance with some corrupt RCB employees, succeeded in evading the taxes for the last many years. Recovery of these arrears will add millions to the property tax revenue of the cantonment board, they added.

Property tax is the main source of income for the civic body, but a shortfall has occurred due to the exemption given to serving and retired army officers on their properties, both in their own use and those rented out. The proposal for this exemption had come from the incumbent Military Lands and Cantonments Director-General Maj-Gen Mohammad Javed.