ISLAMABAD: On Wednesday, the National Assembly approved two treasury bench bills including the Income Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and the Public Private Partnership Authority Bill, 2016. Both bills were nominated by Minister for Law and Justice, Zahid Hamid on behalf of Minister for Finance and Revenue Mohammad Ishaq Dar.
The statement of objects and reasons of the Income Tax (Amendment) Bill says that in order to bring undocumented part of transactions of immovable property into formal economy and to document transactions at fair market value, changes were made in the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001. In the Finance Act of 2016, the powers of Commissioner were withdrawn and assessment was to be made by a panel of approved values of State Bank of Pakistan.
In order to remove ambiguity and to bring transparency with regard to the fair value of the property; the objective is being pursued in such a way so as to promote documentation and to generate fair and due revenues for the state.
According to the statement of objects and reasons of the Public Private Partnership Authority Bill, the government is not able to provide funds, therefore, promotion of private sector investment is necessary. The use of public private partnership (PPPs) is likely to increase followed by a surge in PPP-financed projects in near future.
The bill will provide a regulatory framework to execute Public Private Partnerships in Pakistan so as to promote domestic and foreign private investment in infrastructure.
