The issue of pending sale tax refunds on part of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has earned them the ire of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance on Wednesday. The Standing Committee expressed its anger over this issue and highlighted that this had become a bone of contention for the business community. This was discussed in a meeting of the finance committee chaired by Senator Saleem Mandiviwalla.
The agenda of the meeting were the suggested changes in Finance Bill 2017 and the committee raised queries over how the government had been able to implement tax on cigarettes before parliament’s passing of the budget. The FBR apprised the standing committee that the reason for enacting the tax on cigarettes was to address the revenue shortfall and reduce it.
The FBR officials also informed the finance committee that sunflower and canola seeds had been spared from import duty. Five-year-old combined harvester machines import duty has also been reduced to 7pc from 17pc originally in the upcoming financial year 2017-18, the committee was told.
