Punjab tax authorities reject property survey statistics.

Punjab's tax authorities are unhappy with the outcome of a property valuation exercise five years in the making, source said. According to senior Punjab Excise and Taxation officials, the department's field staff carrying out a survey of residential and commercial buildings in the province has been unable to collect adequate information to prepare a valuation table for new property tax rates. Subsequently, a departmental committee overseeing the exercise rejected the sample survey data as insufficient, they said.

The department has been surveying residential and commercial buildings across Punjab to track how rent amounts have changed from five years ago in order to update property tax rates. The exercise, under way since the beginning of January, also seeks to identify which property units should fall under the tax net.

On Thursday, the various focal officials appointed for carrying out the task submitted sample survey results for their respective divisions to a director-level committee constituted by Director General Excise Sohail Shehzad. Upon reviewing the sample data, the committee found it to be 'inadequate and non-standard'.

"The samples presented to...