ISLAMABAD - Apart from recommending withdrawal of additional five percent General Sales Tax (GST) imposed on petroleum products, Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue on Friday asked the government to bring back the Pakistanis’ capital to the country from foreign banks.
The Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue, which met under the chair of Senator Nasreen Jalil, has severely criticised the government for increasing GST on petroleum products to 22 percent from 17 percent for additional revenue generation.  The Chairperson of the committee expressed her concerns over the unproportionate decrease in petroleum products when compared with the international market. She said petroleum products have been decreased by 50 percent in international market but it reduced by only 12 percent in Pakistan. She said that the imposition of 5 percent additional GST has worried the public and the Parliament is also against any such decision.
Senator Syeda Sughra Imam of Pakistan Peoples Party, in her remarks said that SRO culture should be ended and government should impose taxes with approval of the parliament. The Supreme Court of Pakistan already gave a verdict that no tax or levy should be imposed through Executive orders, she added. However, PML-N lawmaker, Senator Rafiq Rajwana disagreed on this and said that the matter after being discussed in the Upper House is now with the Chairman Senate and the committee should wait to give its recommendations till the Chairman gives his ruling. Senator Osman Saifullah proposed to the Senators that individual Senators should go to courts against 5pc increase as it is a right as citizens of Pakistan. Senator Haji Adeel said that government should have decreased fuel surcharge keeping in view the decrease in petroleum prices. He further said that if the economy has suffered due to lowered prices, instead of imposing GST, the government should lower its travel expenses.  Speaking on the occasion, Chairman FBR Tariq Bajwa informed that according to the constitution, the government cannot impose taxes just by itself but it can increase the tax rates, as it did on enhancing GST on petroleum products. He said that other countries particularly Switzerland and Dubai are not cooperating in sharing assets details of those Pakistanis who invested in their countries.
However, according to the press release issued by Senate Secretariat, Chairman FBR said that Swiss government is not providing information regarding $200 billion stashed amount of Pakistanis nationals in Swiss banks.
Discussing the issues of Tax File Returns, Chairman Federal Board of Revenue Tariq Bajwa said that in 2013, the total tax returns filed were 710,000 and in 2014, they were 771,000. He hoped that this year the returns will reach almost 900,000.
Taxes on agriculture and the problems encountered in this were also discussed in the meeting. Senator Syeda Sughra Imam proposed to the committee to recommend to the government to start issuing Provincial Tax Numbers in addition to the National Tax Numbers. The committee decided to suggest to the Inter-provincial Coordination Committee to call a meeting of the provincial revenue departments to address the issue. The committee members appreciated the efforts of FBR and Chairman FBR for their efforts and giving the committee useful information which didn’t even come into FBR’s domain.  The committee decided that its members will participate in the meetings of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) which are held to determine prices on monthly basis. Chairman OGRA, Saeed Ahmed expressed his willingness to this proposal.
It also decided to ask the Finance Minister and Secretary to give a detailed briefing to the committee regarding the discrepancies in OGRA Ordinance.
The committee expressed strong anguish over the absence of quorum of sitting members in the Authority. Senator Fateh Muhammad Hasani said that the country has suffered a lot because of some unlawful actions and decisions of OGRA. To this Chairman OGRA stated that the Authority has not taken any unconstitutional or unlawful decision. Senators expressed dissatisfaction over this statement and Senator Kalsoom Parveen said that the Authority does not have enough sitting members to decide any matter. Saeed Ahmed clarifying his position said that the Authority has not taken any decision after being restrained by the Lahore High Court in a ruling. During the meeting Additional Secretary Finance shujaat Ali, could not give any satisfactory answer to the questions posed by Senator Syeda Sughra Hussain Imam and Senator Osman Saifullah Khan. The committee members expressed fury over the absence of Secretary Finance.
The meeting was attended among others by Senator Haji Muhammad Adeel, Senator Syeda Sughra Imam, Senator Kalsoom Parveen, Senator Fateh Muhammad Muhammad Hasni, Senator Malik Muhammad Rajwana, Chairman OGRA Seed Ahmed, Chairman FBR Tariq Bajwa and Additional Secretary Senate Shujaat Ali.