Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan chairing a meeting regarding Excise , Taxation and Narcotics Control Department
- Mass scale reforms are underway in excise,
- Taxation and narcotics control (et&nc) department khyber pakhtunkhwa under the reforms agenda of the incumbent provincial government to further improve their overall performance and ensure improved service delivery to the general masses.
- Various reforms undertaken in et&nc department include legal reforms, administrative reforms, tax reforms, e-governance initiative, tax facilitation, ease of doing business etc.
- These reforms have resulted in significant improvement in the overall performance of the department ensuring better service delivery and enhanced tax recovery.
This was told in a progress review meeting of et&nc department held here the other day with chief minister khyber pakhtunkhwa mahmood khan in the chair. the meeting reviewed in detail the overall performance of the department with special focus on the progress made so far on various reforms initiatives in the department. besides the minister for finance, taimur saleem jhagra, advisor to cm on et&nc department, mian khaleeq ur rehman, principal secretary to cm, amjad ali khan and secretary et&nc, haider iqbal, other relevant authorities of et&nc, finance and planning departments attended the meeting. briefing the meeting about varoius reforms in the department it was told that in order to facilitate the tax payers and give them relief, rate of rebate for urban immovable property tax (uipt) was increased from 10% to 20%, rental rate of commercial properties reduced from 18 to 15 %, all shops were excluded from rental value base formula and floor wise locality factor introduced for the first time. similarly, rebate for private schools increased from 20 to 30%, duplication of taxes on 18 items abolished and tax on profession, trades and calling exempted for the current financial year. it was further informed that to encourage maximum vehicles registration in the province free of cost registration system for vehicles introduced adding that registration fee for vehicles upto 2500 cc fixed at one rupee only and 1% of the total value for vehicles above 2500cc.
Regarding the tax recovery of the department, the forum was informed that a total tax recovery of rs. 3.00 billion was made during the financial year 2019-20 against the total target of rs. 3.33 billion which is 90% of the target whereas a tax recovery of rs. 4.01 billion was made during the financial year 2020-21 against the target of rs. 3.74 billion which is 107% of the set target.
Regarding the steps taken by the department for effective narcotics control, it was told that during the last one year, the narcotics control wing the department seized about 5000 kg of various narcotics and 715 ltr of alcohol, registered 484 cases, arrested 573 accused and lodged firs against 333 vehicles.
Regarding the service delivery and ease of doing business initiative of the department it was apprised that tax challan of uipt had been computerised, online and e-payment system introduced, and five tax facilitation centres established in five regional headquarters to facilitate the motor vehicle tax payers. briefing the forum about e-governance and ict interventions it was informed that an adp scheme had been initiated for creation of centralised database, developmental of new mis,gis application and its integration with the uipt in different cities of the province with the aim to have transparent, efficient and accountable system. it was further informed that in order to convert the overall payment system of the department from the existing manual to online payment, a sophisticated application titled as ‘zama kp’ was being developed besides introducing universal number plates for vehicles.
Expressing his satisfaction on the overall performance of the department and implementation of reforms initiatives, the chief minister directed the authorities concerned for necessary steps to further improve it. he appreciated the department’s endeavours for tax recovery and said that the officials achieving their targets with regard to tax recovery would be rewarded. while stressing the need of restructuring the department to further improve its efficiency, the chair directed the high ups of the department to come up with proposals to this effect.