The federal government has agreed in principle to Sindh's suggestion under which the revenue generated through General Sales Tax (GST) would go to the province here on Monday during the first session of National Finance Commission (NFC) meeting. Technical Member from Sindh on NFC renowned economist Qaiser Bangali told reporters after the meeting that former Attorney General Makhdoom Ali Khan interpreted the provisions in the Constitution supporting Sindh's stance on GST.
"Federal Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin representing the centre in the meeting termed the Sindh's demand valid and said GST on services is provinces' right", Qaiser Bangali said. Speaking on the occasion Punjab Finance Minister Tanveer Ashraf Kaira said Sindh had presented its standpoint regarding GST and the centre has yet to give its formal viewpoint while the federal Finance Minister had already supported the Sindh stance.
He said all the participants representing the federation and federating units were unanimous in forwarding the suggestion that size of population should not be only factor rather backwardness and area should also be parameters for distributing resources among the federating units and centre from the central divisible pool.
"We recommended that such a formula be evolved for distribution of resources under NFC which should be equally befitting for the centre and the provinces", he said, recommending that major chunk of the resources should go to the provinces as it is inevitable to make the province financially autonomous. NWFP Finance Minister Hamayun Khan conveying his province stance on the occasion stressed the need for giving 80 percent of total resources under NFC to provinces.
He, however, recommended for taking financial difficulties of all members into consideration while sharing out the resources. NWFP's technical member on NFC Senator Haji Adeel cited the examples of federation of Germany which distributes its resources among units on various aspects including the population.
Supporting Balochistan demand, he said the province forms over 40 percent of the country total landmass yet its population is very scarce. If Balochistan gets its share under NFC on the basis of population, its people dream to live in a developed society could never come true, he said and emphasised the need for fair and justified distribution of resources. To a question regarding Balochistan share under GST, he said efforts are being made to ensure additional Rs 3 to 4billion to the province under GST.
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