ISLAMABAD: Senate Standing Committee on States and Frontier Regions has expressed their deep concerns on the imposition of sales tax on those items which are supplying to FATA from inside the country and decided to call the chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) in its next meeting to solve the issue.
The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Senator Hidayatullah here at the Parliament House on Friday and was attended among others by Senators Hilal-ur-Rehman, Sajjad Hussain Turi, Shamim Afridi, Najma Hameed, Secretary SAFRON, Member IR Policy Wing, CEO TESCO and officials from State Bank and relevant ministries.
The committee discussed in detail the matter of tax exemption to FATA. The committee was told that the SROs 1212 and 1213 relating to sales tax and income tax are not in force now and the tax situation is the same as was applicable before 25th amendment.
The committee decided to call chairman FBR, secretary finance and Secretary Law and Justice to next meeting to discuss the matter. Regarding agricultural loans to small farmers from FATA, the committee was told that the total amount of outstanding loans given to people from FATA between 2009 and 2012 is 471 million, out of which only 30 million is agricultural loans. Committee in its meeting has directed the Deputy Commissioners of all seven districts of FATA to complete work on proposed and recommended ADP projects for the year and submit details to the Committee with mention of the agency or parliamentarian who has recommended the project. The Committee was told that according to Planning and Development Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Law Enforcement Agencies, MNAs, Senators and tribal elders have to be consulted before proposing any project in the area. The Committee recommended to wave off the agricultural loans to give relief to small farmers as the area has been under civil war and no agricultural produce has been obtained.
The committee was also given update on the status of non-payment of salaries and pension to the personnel of levies and Khassadar working in Kurram and Orakzai Agencies.
