PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser on Sunday expressed his concern regarding how the FATA Reforms bill would reverse the tax exemption for the population of Malakand Division, hours before the historic session for the bills passing in the KP assembly.
In a letter to the National Assembly (NA) Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, Qaiser elaborated on the objections raised by lawmakers hailing from the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA-the Malakand Division) regarding the elimination of tax exemption for the people of PATA before the 31st Constitutional Amendment Act 2018, adding that the issue had not been addressed in any of the previous assembly sessions.
Furthermore, he wrote of the lawmakers’ demand of an extension of the tax exemption for 10 years in order to ease people into the new reforms in contrast to the age-old by-laws they have been following.
Once the law is passed in the provincial assembly, the change of status would make the people of FATA and PATA liable to pay taxes to the government of Pakistan.
Earlier during a meeting summoned by the KP speaker, parliamentary leaders of political parties discussed strategies to overcome difficulties in securing a two-thirds majority required to pass the bill, while lawmakers of PATA’s seven districts raised their concerns over the abrogation of tax exemption.
“Their demands are justified for the reasons that both FATA and PATA have been exempted from taxes historically. The areas have also suffered the most by insurgencies and mass internal displacement due to military operations and natural calamities”, states the letter.
Relevant legal instruments associated with various taxation laws have been referenced while demanding a continued exemption before the bill is voted on in the provincial assembly.
While speaking to the media, Qaiser said that Ayaz Sadiq has assured him of the continuation of the exemption.
Moreover, KP CM’s spokesperson Shaukat Yousafzai informed that the prime minister has also promised of maintaining the tax exemption.
