Government's decision to impose Capital Value Tax (CVT) on transfer of immovable property would further increase the housing cost and deprive masses to their shelters. Chairman, ABAD, Engr. Farooq-uz-Zaman said this in a letter sent to prime minister the other day. He said that such tax has been levied for the first time in history, imposed even on flats that are of 1,500 square feet and less.
He said a notification in this regard was issued by the office of the additional commissioner-E of Inland Revenue of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) in December. The notification has to be approved by the law ministry which was not done in case of this one, he said. The ministry declined to approve the said notification on the grounds that it is mandatory that any notification has to be ratified by parliament, he said.
He said that even though the notification has neither been ratified by parliament, provincial assembly, nor has it become a part of the Finance Act, the Sindh government has imposed the Capital Value Tax on residential flats of all sizes, irrespective of the minimum covered area.
"This imposition will certainly increase the hardships of the lower income segment of our society which is already reeling under the increased cost of living," he said. He demanded that steps should be taken to withdraw this notification and bring it back to the position of July 1, 2009 when the housing units on 1,500 sq. ft and below were exempt from this levy.
Comments
Comments are closed.