Property valuation rates increase by up to 60pc

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has announced a fresh spike in valuation of properties across the country for the purpose of collecting taxes and to bring rates closer to fair market value.

The property valuation rates for 20 major cities in the country has gone up by an average cover of 30 percent, bringing the prices up to and unprecedented 85% of market value. The move is set to collect Rs40 billion in taxes for the fiscal year 2019-20. In some areas of Karachi, the valuation rates have gone up to at least 60 percent.

The announcement was made by the government in the form of statutory regulatory orders sent out by the FBR to implement the valuation rates in 20 major cities of the country including Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad and Gawadar.

Earlier, the FBR had recieved major backlash for suggesting up to as much as 200% increase in valuation in some areas of certain cities such as Karachi. The backlash had meant they were unable to implement their new strategy. However, this still marks the second time in six months that the PTI government has increased the valuation of properties.

Before this, they had increased the valuation rats from the original 20% to 55%. The rates have now gone up an additional 30% to get to 85% of the actual market value. The fresh increase means that the total average increase in valuation rates has come to a whopping 50% in only six months. This is expected to significantly improve tax collection.