0.5-3.0pc tax on excess properties under study

Doulot Akter Mala | Published: March 08, 2011 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Doulot Akter Mala
The NBR is planning to fix the rates of the proposed property tax from 0.5 per cent to 3.0 per cent on excess immovable properties in the metropolitan cities and urban areas. The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has initially set the rates for the proposed tax, scheduled to be re-introduced from 2012, on surplus lands, flats and house properties. People having excess lands and house properties will have to pay the property tax at minimum rates to help eradicate existing social inequality and mismatch of income, said a senior official of the NBR. Wealth tax was in place from 1963 to 1998-99. It was scrapped in 1998-99, following pressure from some influential quarters. The government has decided to re-introduce the tax, observing increasing gap between the poor and rich the people in the country, he said. A member of the expert panel said the draft law of the tax will undergo several changes. The expert panel held a meeting on this issue, he said, adding that the government will organise a workshop on the draft law next month. "We have planned minimum rates for the proposed property tax. The new tax will be different from the previously scrapped wealth tax, slapped on both movable and immovable properties," he said. Taxpayers will not have to pay wealth tax for their dwelling houses or lands. There will be different ceilings of the tax on the basis of the size of land and house property. The revenue board will follow the government-fixed land rates for imposing tax, he added. Meanwhile, the government has found out some complexities in introducing the tax. In a recent meeting with the officials of finance ministry and the revenue board, noted economists pointed out that there would be double taxation, if the property tax was introduced, as holding tax was in place. The revenue officials are also reviewing the proposed tax measures on fallow land that is not of source of any income unless it is sold, officials said.