ISLAMABAD: Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) has asked the Prime Minister to dissolve the Tax Review Committee, constituted by the government to resolve issues over the eight per cent tax on the services industry.
The TIP, in a letter to the premier, said that the committee may harm national interests instead of protecting them. The Transparency also accused corrupt officials of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) of causing Rs30 billion loss to the national exchequer with the help of some telecom companies’ officials.
“The prime minister is requested to kindly take immediate action against those responsible for such an illegal act to defraud the national exchequer and immediately dissolve the void committee that has a pre-planned agenda to defeat the parliament and serve the interest of their clients at the cost of the public exchequer,” said the letter.
It has also demanded that the corrupt government officials involved in this illegal move should also be taken to task under the National Accountability Ordinance of 1999.
The complaint has also been forwarded to NAB chairman, the Supreme Court of Pakistan registrar, Federal Tax Ombudsman and the Prime Minister’s Inspection Commission chairman.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had constituted the five-member committee to suggest amendments in the Income Tax Ordinance’s section 153, that deals with minimum tax on all the service providers.
