ISLAMABAD: In a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Nisar Muhammad Khan on Wednesday defended the government decision to levy regulatory duty.
Senators Kamil Ali Agha, Ilyas Bilour, Mohsin Aziz and others expressed concern over the government decision to levy regulatory duty of Rs 40 billion, saying that items of daily use had also been made costlier, therefore, the government should immediately withdraw this duty.
They also expressed the fear that imposition of regulatory duty on imported items would be tantamount of increase smuggling and it would further decrease revenue collections.
Amid a lot of hue and cry over the issue, Nisar said that revenue shortfall was witnessed in the first quarter of the current fiscal year due to reduced oil prices in the international markets, therefore, regulatory duty was levied on imported luxury items to make up the deficiency.
Nisar Muhammad Khan said that article 77 of the constitution allowed the state to impose new taxes as well as change the existing ratio of taxes. Regulatory duty was levied under Customs and Excise Act. He further added that no new SRO had been issued in last two years as well as no regulatory duty was levied on import of machinery.
He hoped that FBR would meet the revenue collection for next seven months and there would be no need to take any such measure in future because revenue collection witnessed 28% growth in November.
On a public petition regarding tax injustice on a Chinese Company, he assured the committee to take required actions to address the reservations of Chinese Company and then provide required record before the committee.
Responding to observations of Kamil Ali Agha regarding Customs teams raids to check smuggling; he said that smuggling had reduced significantly due to strict vigilance of Customs department at borders and adjoining areas.
However, Nisar announced to continue efforts till total elimination of menace of smuggling, saying that Customs teams raided at different places in Lahore in search of smuggled $ 10, 000 which had been hid somewhere by smugglers.
On the issue of Saint James Hotel and Club, FBR officials told committee that they were working on the matter in collaboration with British and Singaporean authorities and had sought concerning record from them and would submit report before the House on completion of investigation.
