KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly on Monday unanimously passed the Sindh Finance (Amendment) Bill 2020 into law to end capital value tax to help promote construction and real estate sectors. The new law that will help about 40 different ancillary businesses in construction and real estate sectors was tabled by Mehboob Uzaman, the Sindh Revenue Minister, in the house.

"It is a national cause for which government has given sacrifice," the minister said, urging the federal government to follow suit. The Sindh government, he claimed, has waived off Rs5 billion of tax for the very sectors from its annual revenue collections. He called it a "sacrifice". The minister hoped the federal government should respond positively to Sindh's efforts.

Firdous Shamim Naqvi of the PTI said that Sindh recovers more property tax than other provinces. He said that the other three provinces give more incentives to the businesses, which draw investment there.

The construction sector needs official support; the government should also give focus to Hyderabad and Larkana. He urged the government to end tax on construction of the small houses.

MQM's Khawaja Izhar-ul-Hasan compared Karachi airport to that of Islamabad, saying that the federal capital city blooming with the new constructions but the financial hub looks 'dry'.

He asked the government to scale back the rate of withholding tax after ending the CVT, which will benefit the tradesmen. He also appealed to the federal government to abolish the withholding tax. The opposition held protest in the house against the declaration of Keamari District. The house remained chaotic for quite a while.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020