Crackdown on tax defaulters enhances real estate sector’s credibility, reports Zameen.com

LAHORE, Pakistan - June 17, 2013 - PRLog -- Pakistan realty market is the one sector that manages to progress irrespective of the country’s turbulent ups and downs. Although the real estate market manages to break even, out of the financial crisis induced by the previous government’s faulty practises and laws, the general economic condition remained very unstable and hindered real estate growth as well. The new caretaker government is taking firm steps to ensure a total cessation of corruption and bring the whip of law hard on defaulters. The department of excise and taxation, under the supervision of the caretaker government is cracking down with great efficiency on property defaulters.

Zameen.com http://www.zameen.com/, largest property portal of Pakitan, reports that this step taken by the excise and taxation department to remove illegal practices in Pakistan’s realty market will have a very positive effect on the property situation and help improve the international credibility of Pakistan’s property market. Not just the excise department, CDA, LDA and the Supreme Court have been taking strict actions against property defaulters as well.

The series of crackdown against tax defaulters, illegal occupants and illegal usage of the government property continues and a number of steps have been taken to cease illegal practices and safeguard Pakistan realty market against perjury and fraud. These actions are mostly taken in the capital and the Punjab province.

It all started with the caretaker government’s order to remove rampant corruption and initiate a crackdown on the squatter settlements in the federal capital and the people occupying land by unjust means. The Supreme Court also instructed CDA to take strict action against many famous politicians, lawyers and other prominent people occupying massive amounts of government’s agricultural lands in the forms of farm houses and personal palaces. The 504 plots will be rescued to their basic state and any illegal construction will be raised to the ground. Other than residential farmhouses many people had created commercial properties like hotels and wedding halls on the property.  

The Supreme Court also ordered the federal government and the provincial governments to start computerizing the property records. The Supreme Court demanded computerized consensus of properties in all provinces and the capital. To this order three provinces have responded positively and provided progress reports and assured that the pending work will be summed up soon, but Baluchistan remains non responsive.

The Punjab provincial government has also planned to develop a building regularity authority to approve the maps, building plans and many mushrooming housing developments. The excise and taxation department is efficiently combating all the property tax defaulters and has taken strict action by sealing more than hundred properties and twenty farm houses in three months’ time. It also has been able to extract Rs 320 million of tax and submitted to the national treasury.

The crackdown to purge the Pakistan and Lahore real estate sector also involved purging the commercial market and property defaulters like spas, shops and beauty salons were taken into account as many commercial properties were sealed till they cleared the property tax.

The Supreme Court has also ordered the government to conduct a property survey and to categorize the properties according to their areas so that Grade-C areas are not taxed Grade-A areas and vice versa.

For more information please visit: http://www.zameen.com