SECRETARY, DG EXCISE ACTIVE TO MEET TARGET FROM VERY FIRST MONTH OF NEW FISCAL YEAR

By Daily Independent On Jul 13, 2023

LAHORE, July 13:

Secretary Excise, Taxation and Narcotics Control Masood Mukhtar has said that the officers and personnel of the Excise Department worked hard to achieve the targets and achieved most of the goals despite a lot of hurdles this year. He was presiding over the Directors Conference at the office of DG Excise Punjab on Thursday. DG Excise Muhammad Ali, Additional Secretary Ahmed Kamal, Additional DG Ahmed Saeed and all divisional directors were also present. The performance of last year and the proposed action plan for the new year were reviewed in the conference. Secretary Masood Mukhtar said that employees would be given cash rewards and certificates of appreciation for collecting motor vehicle tax in excess of the target. He directed the directors to self-evaluate their performance and not to repeat the previous mistakes this year. He said that notices to taxpayers should be issued without waiting for the last months and pending promotion, pension and inquiry cases of employees should be disposed of quickly: The secretary said that inspectors who had been working in the same place for tens of years would be replaced while those with poor performance would be transferred out of division and district. He urged the directors to send proposals and suggestions today to improve the performance of the department. He further said that a thorough publicity campaign should be conducted to guide the taxpayers and complete the new property survey before the deadline. Earlier DG Excise Mohammad Ali said that a record Rs 6.8 billion was recovered in the last two months due to hectic move comprising of frequent field visits, online monitoring and an effective audit policy, whereas long standing taxes were collected from big wigs in a massive campaign. He said, “there was a 35% decrease in the sale of vehicles, a clear decrease in cotton cultivation and frequently revised targets, while taxes of Rs 3.5 billion were stuck due to pending cases. To settle the pending cases, Directors should set up special legal cells for this purpose.” The DG said that weekly targets had been fixed at the beginning of this financial year. He said that the department has planned to set up an Excise Foundation for the welfare of the employees while the shortage of staff and vehicles would be met on a priority basis.