Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) Assembly Friday passed a unanimous resolution seeking three years’ exemption on turnover and income taxes to the business community of the province.
The resolution said that in the year 2012, the prime minister of Pakistan under Income Tax Act (Section 126-F) had announced a three-year exemption from tax. However, after the passage of few months, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) declined to grant the exemption to the business holders of KPK, and also levied turnover and income tax on them.
The local chamber of commerce had subsequently challenged the matter in the Peshawar High Court (PHC), which gave a detailed verdict in the favour of the trade body. However, the FBR challenged the decision in the Supreme Court (SC). Therefore, the provincial assembly recommended the matter to the provincial government to further recommend it to the federal government to return the three-year tax exemptions (July 2009 to June 30, 2012) granted as announcement of the prime minister of Pakistan and withdraw the appeal filed by the FBR against the decision of the PHC from the SC and grant income tax exemption to the KPK traders according to its true spirit.
The chair put the resolution to vote and the house passed it unanimously. Earlier, KPK Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, who was presiding over the proceedings, suspended the rules to allow the mover to present the resolution.
The joint resolution carrying the signatures of members from both treasury and opposition members of the House was presented by Sardar Aurangzeb Nalotha of the PML-N. Those who signed the resolution included Lutfur Rehman (JUI-F), Sardar Hussain Babak (ANP), Sikandar Hayat Khan Sherpao (QWP), Babar Khan (AJI) and provincial ministers including Inayatullah Khan, Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani and the mover.
