National Assembly on Friday took up around 27 recommendations made by Upper House of the Parliament for incorporation in the Finance Bill and 217 proposals related to the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for the year 2022-23.
Lawmakers including Moulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali and Wajiha Akram debated on some of the recommendations like tax exemption for FATA and PATA areas till 2035, tax abolishment for Mosques and seminaries in the utility bills, early implementation on transfer of 3 per cent NFC award share to the tribal areas etc. They stressed for inclusion of the Senate and their own recommendations in the next fiscal plan.
As per the recommendations, the Senate suggested the National Assembly that exemption on the real small retailer i.e. with shop size of 6×6 or 6×8 non air condition retailer should be based on their electricity bill. The Upper House recommended that retrospective exemption of Federal Excise Duty to Newly Merged Districts should be provided and in order to promote economic prosperity and implement the true spirit of the exemptions promised, all previously uncollected taxes on sales including electricity bills should also be exempted for the year 2019 to 2020.
With the Passage of 25th Constitutional Amendment, FATA and PATA stood merged in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. A phased approached was needed for the full application of fiscal law to erstwhile Tribal/Newly Merged Districts (NMDs) therefore, a decision was made to exempt all taxes which would have not applied Article 247 of the Constitution had not been omitted under the Constitution (Twenty-Fifth Amendment) Act, 2018. However, against the spirit of this decision, Federal Excise Duty was imposed in NDMs brining the excisable goods produced in these areas under the ambit of taxation. Furthermore, FED was also imposed on steel sector and ghee sector.
Senate recommended that government should ensure the reduction of sugar content in sodas, juices energy drinks and iced teas for better human health. It was suggested that in (Annex-VI (Chapter 99 of Pakistan custom tariff against pct code 9942) for the words ‘special area government”, the word “Such states and territories as are or may be included in Pakistan shall be substituted.
Senate recommended to the NA that exemptions of fifth schedule to the Custom Act, 1969 should be provided on the import of Railways item, from all duties and taxes. In Sub-Clause (59), in paragraph (a) of Finance Bill, 2022, in the twelfth schedule, the Upper House recommends that all price sensitive items should be added along with the entry related to coal in the table. Senate recommended that to give full effect to the amendments made in clause 3 (120 (B) of the Bill, 2022, it is proposed that tariff headings 9801.2000, 9801.5000 and 9805.8000 may be restored in the first schedule to the Customs Act, 1969 as were existing before its withdrawal vide Finance Act, 2018. Senate further recommended to the National Assembly that the provisions of clause 3 (1) ( c) (ii) of the Bill should either be omitted or its scope should be restricted to production and supply of electricity (PCT Code 2716.0000).
