ISLAMABAD, Jun 12 (NNI): While hearing the pleas against the imposition of taxes on foreign assets, the Supreme Court on Monday rejected a plea of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to impose a 100 percent tax on immovable properties and ordered to pay a 50 percent tax on such properties.
A three-member SC bench, headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, conducted the hearing on the pleas.
The court also issued a stay order against the imposition of a 100 percent tax on the immovable properties, stating that the court order of 50 percent tax payment would not be applicable to the movable properties.
The chief justice stressed the need for looking into the defects of the new tax system, adding that creative taxation would have to be done to bring more people into the tax net.
“Whatever the court is supposed to do, it has to do according to the law and Constitution,” the chief justice remarked.
The FBR member legal told the court that it had been a matter of billions of rupees, adding that it would be injustice to others if the court issued a stay order. “If relief starts to be given on a tax policy in this way, it will increase difficulties,” he pointed out.
“The court has no objection if anyone wants to pay 100 percent tax,” the chief justice replied.
The chief justice also remarked that the country had been faced with economic difficulties.
“The money that is being kept in foreign countries to improve the foreign exchange reserves should be kept in Pakistan,” he added. “We can understand the compulsions of the government. It is the responsibility of everyone to cooperate,” he said. NNI
