ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Finance Ministry are likely to come under severe criticism over the levy of new taxes of Rs 40 billion in today’s meeting of Senate Finance Committee.
On the last day of previous month Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, in a press conference, announced 5-10 percent regulatory duty on 61 imported non-essential luxury items, 5% regulatory duty increase imposed on 289 imported items and 1% additional customs duty imposed on the imported items to meet shortfall of revenue.
According to Chairman Committee Salim Mandviwala, both the Finance Ministry and FBR officials could not satisfy committee on the said issue in previous meeting therefore they had been invited again to clear their position.
In the previous meeting, although Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Chairman FBR Nisar Muhammad Khan, aptly defended stances of both of their organizations, however, they could not respond to the volleys of questions wrapped in criticism from opposition members.
Therefore, today’s meeting is also very important for both Dar and Nisar because the opposition seems violent due to prevailing political tension between the federal and Sindh provincial government over the grant of extension in special powers to Rangers in Sindh, a source privy to Chairman Committee Salim Mandviwala said.
Source said that members of the committee were of the stance that FBR failed to meet tax collection targets; therefore inflation-hit masses were being forced to pay for their failure in terms of custom duties and the increase in consumer prices eventually.
Another possible issue of harassment for both Dar and Nisar will be discussion on the issue of Saint James Hotel and Club with FBR and SBP because last month members of the committee raised fears of money laundering after the central bank declared that it had not initiated any process for granting permission to a billionaire for remitting $75 million for the purchase of Saint James’s Hotel in London as the deal has already been sealed.
In July this year, the Senate committee had directed the SBP to furnish details whether the Nishat Group remitted $75 million for acquisition of the five-star hotel through proper channels. Billionaire Mian Muhammad Mansha had purchased the hotel in 2012 for $75 million.
Ali said the SBP had powers to give permission for investment up to $5 million abroad and initiate the case for approval of the ECC, if the investment is over $5 million. Making investment abroad without the central bank’s green signal was a serious issue and could raise concerns of money laundering, commented Senator Saeed Ghani of the Pakistan Peoples Party, who is a member of the standing committee.
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