KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that the establishment of an e-stamping system would plug revenue leakages, improve compliance ratio, as well as, facilitate taxpayer and build their confidence in the system.
This he said while speaking at the inauguration ceremony of e-stamping here at CM House on Tuesday.
The meeting was attended by provincial ministers, chief secretary, National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) President and leading businessmen.
To make the province of Sindh prosperous, safe, healthy and educated and to uplift living standards of people is our top priority, the CM said and added that to achieve these objectives, his government has taken steps to enhance the tax base. “With continuous efforts we have significantly increased our revenue generation; however, there is still room for improvement as tremendous potential is yet to be tapped,” he said.
Shah said that his government has always ensured that the tax rates must be rational. He said that alongside improving the tax collection system, the Sindh government has given relief to the public on taxes levied on real estate transactions by abolishing Capital Value Tax (CVT) and Registration Fee, while slashing stamp duty rate from two percent to one percent.
He said that the digital technology has revolutionized the world, interface with digital technology would definitely plug revenue leakages, improve compliance ratio, as well as, facilitate and build confidence of the taxpayer in the system.
The Board of Revenue, Sindh is introducing an e-stamping system, modelled according to advanced international practices, Shah said and added that the e-stamping system envisages online generation and printing of stamp duty challan from the web-based application, as well as, issuance of e-stamp papers from branches of National Bank of Pakistan.
Shah said that the e-stamping system had been put under testing in 22 branches of NBP and now finally it is ready to be rolled out in more than 300 branches of NBP across the province.
He said the e-stamping system would help to eradicate menace of fake and forged stamp papers. It will substantially increase revenue receipts and above all, improve public facilitation.
The CM hoped that along with increasing provincial revenue, the e-stamping system would also have a positive effect on broader fiscal and economic reforms in the country. Shah said as a part of their broader tax policy reforms, his government has recently notified the Sindh Valuation Table of Immovable Property Rules, 2022 to rationalize valuation tables of immovable property as an essential element for equity in the taxation system. “These rules set out the procedure to be adopted to review, rationalize and revise valuation tables to discourage overvaluation or undervaluation of immovable property value in Sindh and ensure equity and transparency.”
He acknowledged and appreciated the support of all stakeholders, including PITB, National Bank of Pakistan, as well as, State Bank of Pakistan in the successful implementation of E-Stamping. He also congratulated the Board of Revenue, Sindh team for achieving this remarkable task.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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