ISLAMABAD: The members of National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance again showed their concerns over Income Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
However, the body later decided to approve the ‘The Income Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2016’ on Thursday after considering recommendations of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance.
Briefing the Committee, FBR Chairman Nisar Khan clarified that the scheme is not an amnesty scheme but is a way to bring traders into tax net, adding that the government wants to broaden tax base with the help of this initiative.
Nisar Khan pointed out that seven tax amnesty schemes had been introduced in the country from 1958 to 2008. Sharing details of the schemes, he said that government generated Rs3.16 billion from amnesty scheme introduced in 2008, Rs10 billion in 2000, Rs141 million in 1997 and Rs270 million in amnesty scheme announced in 1976.
The FBR chairman informed the committee members that the government had initiated reforms in Federal Board of Revenue, as it started eliminating concessionary regime, adding that the tax exemptions worth Rs220 billion had been withdrawn in last two years. He maintained that FBR issued notices to 2,50,000 non-taxpayers.
Member Income Tax Policy Rehmatullah Khan Wazir, in his briefing, revealed that the government is expected to generate Rs125 billion through this amnesty scheme Income Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2016 by bringing 500,000 non-taxpayers into tax net. He said that the government would generate a minimum of Rs46.5 billion from the proposed tax amnesty scheme.
Meanwhile, Committee members Murad Saeed of PTI, Dr Nafisa Shah of PPP and Abdul Rashid Godil of MQM severely criticised the amnesty scheme, calling it a political tactic to get benefit before 2018 general election.
