Punjab has launched its first comprehensive property tax survey in 12 years, aimed at curbing tax evasion and expanding the tax net across the province, officials from the Excise, Taxation and Narcotics Control Department said.
The department is using a GIS-based digital survey to identify property units that remain outside the tax net or are currently paying reduced rates. The exercise draws on data from the Punjab Land Record Authority (PLRA) and has been launched as a pilot project in Zone 13 of Lahore, where nearly 80,000 units are currently paying property tax.
Officials expect the survey to bring an additional 20,000 units in the zone into the tax net once completed. The digital assessment will cover both unassessed and under-assessed property units, a measure officials say will make the tax system more transparent and efficient.
Lahore currently has more than 900,000 units paying property tax, while over 2.5 million units across Punjab are registered taxpayers. The Excise Department holds records of more than 4.5 million taxable and non-taxable property units province-wide.
Officials said the survey will be extended across Punjab in phases once government funding is released. The initiative is expected to play a key role in meeting the provinces property tax target of Rs42 billion set for the current fiscal year.
