In a bid to clear the air around tax being imposed on graves in Punjab, the government has said that no ‘grave tax’ has been levied in Punjab and no proposal for such a tax is under consideration.
Recently, a widely shared clip from Samaa News in 2019 resurfaced, which claimed that the government is imposing a tax for about 1500 rupees on the graves of adults and children in the budget for the next year.
Asia Gul, Special Secretary for Local Government and Community Development in Lahore, told Geo Fact Check that the news is “fake”.
“The local government department has neither initiated any such proposal nor has the government approved any such proposal,” she said.
Aslam Nadeem, director of administration and finance at the Punjab Shahr Khumshan Authority, who is responsible for establishing model cemeteries across the province, also confirmed that he has not seen any such proposal and was unaware of any tax on graves in the province.
The Punjab budget for 2024-25 also has no mention of a tax on graves.
