Bonus share, super tax: Senate panel rejects all sections of Finance Bill

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue Friday unanimously rejected all the sections of the Finance Bill 2023 related to bonus share and super tax.

The committee meeting, chaired by Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, successfully concluded its deliberations and recommendations on the Finance Bill, 2023-2024.

The committee took deferred items and considered them for review. The committee carefully evaluated each deferred item and made several recommendations/decisions.

Certain items were accepted and some were rejected for the finalisation of the report. The committee also decided to discuss various recommendations even after the budget.

FBR using RD as revenue ‘tool’: Senate panel

All the deferred items of the Customs Act were accepted after due deliberation.

Notably, all sections falling under the ambit of 99D deferred were discussed. It was briefed that it is the role of the federal cabinet, and the FBR has no authority over it.

The committee reiterated that the bill supply of consumer goods sold under brand names of trademarks to be taxed by 18 per cent will only burden the consumer while the retailer will find its way to avoid the tax regime.

The committee, unanimously, rejected all the sections related to “bonus share” and “super tax” where and when implied in the bill.

Senator Rukhsana Zuberi, Saadia Abbasi, and Kauda Babar gave general recommendations for the budget. The general recommendations from Senator Rukhsana Zuberi and Senator Saadia Abbasi were included in the budget.

Earlier in the meeting, the Telecom Foundation showed serious concern about the 15 per cent regulatory duty and demanded a two per cent reduction in the tax. It also demanded that a super tax should not be imposed.

The chairman committee also required a briefing on the difference of tax being imposed on a filer and a non-filer. A representative from the Pepsi-Cola International also attended the meeting. He said that there is a clear decline of 40 per cent in the sale of carbonated beverages after the mini-budget with a rise of 20 per cent FED.

He said that sugar consumption cannot only be linked with beverages and further said the remarkable decline in the sale did not put any remarkable decline in the number of diabetes victims. He said increased FED on the beverage industries would not clearly have a positive impact on the government’s revenue but rather the declined volume of sales.

They demanded to rationalise the tax imposition on the beverage industry. The meeting was attended by Senator Saadia Abbasi, Kauda Babar, Engr Rukhsana Zuberi, Kamil Ali Agha and Senator Zeeshan Khanzada.

The committee will continue its deliberation on Monday on the final recommendations and report.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023