Tourism potential
AT a time when tourism has emerged as a major sector of the global economy, many nations have invested heavily in the industry to contribute to their GDP and also…
Section 7E: Constitutional validity
Taxing immoveable property and taxing income arising from immoveable property are two different concepts. The former is the burden on immovable property whereas the latter is the burden on the…
COP28: Pakistan’s narrative-Part – II
Pakistan's climate narrative is one of victimhood, shaped by the severe and disproportionate impact it faces, despite being a low emitter of greenhouse gases (GHG). The country ranks fifth in…
Tourism for peace
Being the chairperson of the task force on Gandhara tourism formed by the prime minister of Pakistan, I have decided to celebrate the birth anniversary of Gautama Buddha today (May…
Taxation of immovable property
The National Assembly through the Finance Act 2012 amended section 37(5) of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 [“the Ordinance”] and for the first time levied capital gains tax (CGT) on…
Wealth tax in the guise of deemed income
Whenever historians will write the history of an abusive, incorrect, absurd and technically incorrect tax imposition anywhere in the world they will censure Pakistan for its ‘presumptive’ and ‘minimum’ tax…
FBR: audit closure, capacity & legality
According to a Press report, the government of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) “has quietly closed over 310,000 tax audit cases that had been automatically selected from 2015 to 2017 due to…
Budgets 2020 amid Covid-19 crisis — III
The failure to tap the actual tax potential by the federal and provincial governments is the real issue and not the Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010 [hereinafter “18th Amendment”] vis-à-vis…
Finance Bill 2020
In the Finance Bill 2020, presented along with federal budget 2020-21, a highly lamentable—rather unconstitutional amendment is proposed—to the effect that for availing right to appeal the aggrieved taxpayer will…
Why the ideal of accountability always remains elusive?
Prime Minister Imran Khan admitted recently that the PTI government has not been able to conduct accountability in the desired and expected manner. This is tragic for Pakistan. Nevertheless, it…
