LAHORE: The Punjab Excise, Taxation and Narcotics Control Department has initiated the province’s first comprehensive property tax survey in over a decade, marking a significant step toward closing gaps in tax collection and curbing widespread evasion.
Department officials confirmed that the initiative will rely on a modern Geographic Information System (GIS)-based digital mapping platform, designed to identify properties that currently fall outside the tax net or are being assessed below their actual value.
The survey draws on records supplied by the Punjab Land Records Authority, integrating land data with tax rolls to create a more accurate picture of the province’s real estate landscape.
As a pilot, the department has begun work in Lahore’s Zone 13, an area where nearly 80,000 property units are already registered with taxpayers. Officials anticipate the exercise will bring an additional 20,000 units in that zone alone into the formal tax system, as the digital mapping process uncovers unassessed and underassessed properties.
The scale of the challenge is considerable. Lahore currently has more than 900,000 property units paying tax, while over 2.5 million units are registered as taxpayers across Punjab as a whole. The Excise Department’s broader records list more than 4.5 million taxable and non-taxable property units throughout the province, underscoring the potential for expanded revenue collection.
Officials said the GIS-based survey will be extended across Punjab in phases, contingent on the allocation of necessary funding. The initiative is expected to play a central role in helping the department meet its property tax collection target of Rs. 42 billion for the current fiscal year.
The move follows recent enforcement efforts in the province, including a crackdown that saw dozens of properties sealed in Lahore, reflecting a broader push by authorities to strengthen tax compliance and transparency in the real estate sector.
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