No more tax exemption for any area: minister
ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Aurangzeb Khan on Thursday ruled out any further tax exemption for any area such as ex-FATA and PATA, including Malakand Division.
He stated this while responding to a calling attention notice filed in National Assembly on Thursday. The minister said the exemption was continuing for the last six years which was now being withdrawn, adding no new legislation was being made for it.
The minister explained that under the 25th constitutional amendment to the constitution, former FATA and PATA have come under the ambit of the taxation law. He said these areas had been given an exemption in payment of income tax and sales tax till 2023. Then, the exemption was extended for one more year which is going to expire on June 30 this year.
In reply, Sunni Ittehad Council member Salim Rehman said people of these areas would not pay the taxes and would launch even more effective protests than that recently seen in Azad Kashmir.
On May 14, traders observed a shutter-down strike in Malakand Division, including Chitral, against the government plan to impose taxes.
Why people are reluctant to pay more taxes is because there is no letup in frittering of this money in the form of undue government overhead expenditures at the cost of the poor man. If people are satisfied that their money is spent on them instead of extravagancies of the government and the state, they would gladly pay taxes like all civilised countries.