The Punjab government has decided to collect property and entertainment tax from cantonments from the next fiscal year after a lapse of 33 years and the move will add 15 to 20 percent revenue to the previous target of Rs 16 billion for year 2011-12. The decision was taken after the promulgation of the the Constitutional (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010, being the reason of deletion of Concurrent Legislative List under Article 101 (3) and deletion of Seventh Schedule under Article 102 provincial levies which was introduced by General Zia ul Haq.
Punjab Excise and Taxation (E&T) Department said the Ministry of Defence had been approached to repeal the President’s Order No 13 of 1979 that is the Cantonment (Urban immovable property Tax and Entertainment Duty) Order, 1979, which will enable the Excise and Taxation Department to administer both provincial levies that is Urban Immovable Property Tax and Entertainment Duty in accordance with the existing relevant laws that is the Punjab Urban Immovable Property Tax Act, 1958 and the Punjab Entertainment Duty Act, 1958 in the Cantonment Areas.
“The tax from all posh DHAs is being collected by the cantonment authority and this will add considerably to the provincial exchequer,” sources added.
The Punjab government has collected more than Rs 12 billion from the target of Rs 16 billion of excise and taxation collections set for year 2011-12.