Realtors decry tax imposition on property

PESHAWAR: The Federation of Realtors of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has asked the federal government to stop imposing more tax on the property dealers.

“The Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) has misrepresented to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that we are bringing property under the ambit of net tax to levy additional tax on transfer of property. If the government accepts this advice of FBR, it will increase unemployment,” said Sirajul Haq Yousafzai, head of the Federation of Realtors of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while addressing a press conference.He said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had already suffered from militancy and terrorism, causing unemployment in the province.

He said that since July 1, 2016, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government had imposed one percent withholding tax on filers for transfer of plot, while two percent taxes were imposed on non-filers and still no plot can be transferred without tax. He said FBR had misrepresented this issue and provided incorrect information to the IMF.

“It should be remembered that in 2018, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government gave property the status of an industry and for this, an 8-member committee was formed from the Federation of Realtors of Pakistan to bring forward the grievances to solve the problems of the community every three months so that this industry can be developed. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government made by-laws for the commercialisation of high-rise buildings and towers across the country,” Sirajul Yousafzai explained.

He said it had generated opportunities and the capitalists immediately started investing in this industry and as a result the unemployed people got jobs.Sirajul Haq said that the PTI government did not impose any new tax on non-filers and filers and the previous rate remained unchanged.

He complained that the Pakistan Democratic Movement-led government increased the withholding tax on filers from 1 to 2 percent and on non-filers from 2 to 7 percent. He said it caused a huge loss to the property industry and people lost jobs.

After the same political party came into power again, they increased the tax rate on filers from 2 to 3 percent and on non-filers from 7 to 10.5 percent to please the IMF.

“While it did not stop there, they increased the gain tax to 3 percent on filers while 7 percent on e-tax NOC, FBR dropped another bombshell on the property industry which will further devastate people,” said Sirajul Haq.He appealed to the prime minister not to impose more tax on transfer of property.