Seraiki Inqilabi Council Chief, Muzaffar Hussain Khan Magassi, has demanded of the government to immediately constitute an 'independent' National Finance Commission, as provincial autonomy sans financial powers would not bring about the desired results. He further said 'Seraikistan province' should be established through a constitutional amendment.
Talking to newsmen here on Tuesday, he suggested the government that before initiating deliberations on NFC award, sales tax and customs duty should be returned to the provinces as these two levies were provincial taxes after the independence in 1947.
Muzaffar Khan said, in more than sixty years' history of Pakistan, only two NFC awards came with consensus. The 1997 NFC award announced by the caretaker government had created havoc for federating units as the share of provinces had been reduced, he remarked.
He called for giving financial powers to the provinces under new NFC award, which, he said, should be based on multiple factors of population, revenue collection, area and backwardness. He said provincial autonomy would not make any difference without financial powers.
He quoted a resolution unanimously passed by the Sindh Assembly in 2003, which recommended that net divisible taxes pool should be distributed between the federation and provinces at the ratio of 55 percent and 45 percent respectively. Muzaffar Khan said the federation should be entitled to receive its 55 percent share from the provinces on the basis of their population, adding that this resolution might be the reaction of the Sindh province against the delay in new NFC award.