The federal cabinet on Wednesday once again deferred the approval of much-awaited tax amnesty scheme because some of its provisions required “further fine-tuning”, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said.
Prime Minister Imran Khan had convened a special meeting of the cabinet after some of the ministers opposed the amnesty plan, expressed their reservations and sought further clarification during Tuesday’s meeting.
Chaudhry tweeted that the cabinet deliberated on all aspects of the proposed Assets Declaration and Amnesty Scheme, 2019, and that all options “came under threadbare discussion”.
“It is decided that some provisions [of the scheme] need further fine-tuning,” the minister said, adding that the matter would be taken up again at the next cabinet meeting.
A private TV channel reported on Tuesday that some cabinet members had objected to the 15 percent tax rate proposed under the scheme, while others raised questions about its effectiveness.
Federal Minister for Communications Murad Saeed said he wanted to know the difference between the proposed scheme and the similar ones launched by the previous government.
Expressing his reservation over the 15 percent tax rate, Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda reportedly called for its reduction to facilitate taxpayers.
Fawad Chaudhry was of the opinion that there was a need for reforms in the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the Pakistan Customs before launching an amnesty scheme.
According to sources, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak also opposed the idea, saying the scheme would give no benefit to the government or to the people because all such schemes in the past remained useless.