ISLAMABAD: due to lack of coordination among the Centre and provinces on budget preparation, three general sales tax rates will be implemented in the country simultaneously.
The federal government has fixed sales tax rate at 17% while it is 16% in Punjab. Sindh, on the other hand, has further reduced it to 15%. According to analysts, three different sales tax rates in the country will not only create confusion among taxpayers’ minds but also result in complexities in input tax adjustment among the centre and provinces.
According to reports, provinces are not happy with this anomaly as it was earlier decided in the Council of Common Interests that the centre will consult provinces during budget formation and change in tax rate will be decided mutually so that uniform tax rate may be imposed all over the country but apparently centre did not coordinate with provinces in this respect.
