ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly’s Finance Committee, led by Syed Naveed Qamar, held a meeting to talk about the new 10% sales tax in the merged districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
During the session, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Rashid Langrial shared that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has created a special committee to look into the tax issue. This committee is headed by the PM’s Adviser on Political Affairs, Rana Sanaullah Khan.
The committee will review complaints from businesses in other regions. These businesses say that industries in the merged districts had an unfair advantage when they were tax-exempt. They enjoyed up to an 18% cost benefit, which hurt competition in other parts of the country.
To create a level playing field, the government decided to introduce a 10% sales tax in the current budget. However, due to growing pressure, the decision is now under review. The issue is also likely to be watched by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
During the meeting, the FBR also suggested giving tax subsidies to people living in the merged districts to reduce the impact of the new tax. However, this idea was not accepted by the committee members.
Earlier, trade bodies had raised concerns about the tax, and the matter was referred to the Finance Committee by the Public Accounts Committee for further discussion.
