Peshawar: Peshawar High Court (PHC) has ordered immediate collection of property taxes from traders operating in Karkhano Market, reported a news source. The court has declared that the market and the industrial zone fall under the tax net.
A two-member PHC bench comprising Justice Qalandar Ali Khan and Justice Qaiser Rasheed announced the verdict yesterday. The bench was hearing a review petition filed by the traders against imposition of property taxes.
Dismissing the review petition, the court ordered Excise Taxation and Narcotics Control Department (ETNCD) to start collection of property tax.
Reportedly, the owners of commercial plazas in Karkhano Market haven’t been paying property taxes since 2002. They have been insisting that the market is exempted from these cuts. As such, the plaza owners have been found to be defaulters of PKR 250 million in property tax.
On orders of the PHC, the market has now been declared as ‘rating area’ for collection of property taxes.
ETNDC Secretary Riaz Khan Masood said that no area in Peshawar is exempted from property tax collection. He vowed to collect all due taxes from Karkhano Market’s plaza owners.
