THIS refers to vehicle token tax payment in Islamabad owing to the apathetic behaviour of the people at the helm. The federal government/excise taxation department has assigned the task of collection of vehicles token tax in Islamabad to Pakistan Post.

This government department has not updated itself with modern technologies. The token taxes are collected by post offices in July each year. During this month, long queues of people are seen outside post offices in harsh weather. For this, people have to wait for five to six hours.

The situation has been made by the government more complex by separating the vehicle owners into income tax return filers and non-filers. The filers have been given some advantage in shape of reduced rate of token tax.

Therefore, to take advantage of this, a person has to send an SMS to 9966, the portal provided by Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the resultant message is shown to the counter clerk of the post office to get this tax benefit. This exercise is performed on an annual basis without improvement in systems.

I wonder what stops Pakistan Post from upgrading itself to make this facility automated/online duly channeled through the FBR and the individual’s bank. Why aren’t banks allowed to collect this tax on behalf of the government?

In provinces, there is a practice to collect this tax even for 10 years in advance. I wonder why this practice is not adopted in the capital.

The authorities concerned should resolve this issue.

Ahmed Noman

Islamabad