Islamabad:
Senior Advisor Dr. Farogh Naseem has claimed that super tax is not an extra tax – a dispute that Supreme Court Judge Jamal Khan Mandokhail disagrees with.
The Supreme Court’s five-members (CB) of the Supreme Court, led by Justice Aminuddin Khan, resumed the consultation of petitions on Thursday, which was filed against the introduction of the super tax.
During the consultation, Justice Mandokhail asked if other high courts had made decisions on the amendment to section 99D of the Income Tax Regulation.
Dr. Naseem replied that Sindh High Court had rejected the petitions, while cases were still pending for Islamabad High Court and Lahore High Court.
He pointed out that the banks from today paid 43% in taxes, and with it added 10% super tax reached the rate 53%. He also stated that although the burden was currently on banks, the amendment actually mentioned all sectors.
“Good, bad or even corrupt … It is these very industrialists that keep the wheels in the economy that turn. Because of this situation, many industrialists have already moved their factories to different countries in Africa,” he added.
The adviser claimed that if the courts failed to give relief to the taxpayer, they would become helpless and the loss would eventually affect everyone.
The discussion also affected the importance of parliament and the constitution.
Justice Mandokhail noted that the constitution itself was framed by parliament, while Dr. Farogh Naseem claimed that the Constitution in Pakistan has greater power than parliament, although international parliamentary supremacy is recognized.
Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar noticed that section 4C did not clearly state anything about the introduction of a further tax: “Had it been written explicitly, there would have been no problem.”
Naseem agreed that if these words had been there, the case would have been clear. Continued his arguments he said that the moment an addition has been made, the super tax is automatically applied.
Justice Mazhar replied that the “super tax” itself in itself means an extra treasure. “What else needs clarification?” He asked. However, the lawyer disagreed and asked the judge to show a dictionary that defines super tax as an extra tax.
Justice Mandokhail insisted that the very importance of the super tax was an extra treasure. “Which dictionary is required? Income is defined so that there is no need for a separate definition of super tax.” He also noted that it has been written that super tax is a separate tax. “So this does not make up double taxation.”
Dr. Naseem maintained that the super tax under items 55, 56 and 58 was recognized as an independent tax. “But since it’s not explicitly written as separate now, it loses this independence,” he argued.
Then the consultation was postponed until today. Before postponement, the lawyer asked about the planning of the consultations for next week.
The bench gave up that super -tax cases would take precedence, while hearings about petitions against the 26th constitutional amendment would be erected afterwards.
