KARACHI, June 27: The Sindh Assembly on Wednesday approved the provincial budget for the year 2007-08 with the passage of the Finance Bill and rejected a motion moved by opposition member Murad Ali Shah calling for the referral of the bill to the select committee under Rule 89 (2).
After approval of the budget, Speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah read out the governor’s order to prorogue the session sine die.Winding up the general discussion on the budget earlier, Senior Minister Syed Sardar Ahmad responded to the opposition members’ objections to different allocations and proposals.
The opposition members who participated in the discussion on Wednesday were Leader of the Opposition Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, Shazia Marri, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Rafique Engineer, Kulsoom Nizamani, Humera Alwani, Younus Barai, Nasrullah Baloch, Zahid Ali Bhurgari, Sharfunnisa Leghari and Munawwar Ali Abbasi.
They criticised levy of tax on the hotels charging room rent less than Rs1,000 per unit per day, and proposed that the tax charging an higher amount be levied.
Protest over GST
The opposition members also expressed their reservations over the relaxation in motor vehicle tax allowed to truck and trailer owners, pointing out that movement of these heavy vehicles in congested areas created problems and even caused fatal accidents. Rationalising the tax for the operators of these vehicles would benefit only the rich, they argued.
The opposition members protested against the surrender of the GST on services to the Centre and demanded that the head must be restored to provinces.
Clarifying the situation, Senior Minister Syed Sardar Ahmed said that the head of GST had not been surrendered to the Centre. In this regard, he pointed out that the GST was neither on the concurrent list nor on the federal list.
Minister’s defence
Explaining the tax on hotel room rent, the minister said that following an amendment to the Sindh Finance Act 1977 the Section 8, subsection (1) was revised and by virtue of the amendment, the tax levied on hotels at a rate of 7.5 per cent of the room rent per day had been made a flat rate of 80 per cent of the total occupancy value.
He maintained that the tax remained the same, and pointed out that the hotels with a room rent of up to Rs1,000 per lodging unit per day had earlier been charged on the basis of an average 60 per cent occupancy value and those with above Rs1,000 per unit per on the basis of 70 per cent occupancy value.
However, he explained, now the occupancy percentage had been increased to 80 per cent in both cases considering the increase in visitors of all hotels. This would increase the revenue under this head by Rs15 million.
Regarding levy on goods transport vehicles, the minister stated that the Truck and Trailer-owners Association had been objecting to the flat rate of Rs8,000 per year charged from all such vehicles irrespective of the their capacity. But after an amendment to the Sindh Motor Vehicle Taxation Act 1958, the vehicles with a capacity of 8121 kg to 16000 kg would be charged Rs6,000 per year and those with a capacity of 16001 kg up to 29,999 kg would be charged Rs8,000.
Special committee
After the house passed the Finance Bill, the chair constituted a special committee on a motion moved by Anwar Ali Mehar. The committee will examine the Sindh Tenancy Act and submit its report to the house in the next session.
The committee comprises Anwar Ali Mehar, Jam Mehtab, Ali Mardan Shah, Haji Munawwar Ali Abbasi, Pir Bux Junejo, Syed Jalal Shah Jamote, Jam Madad Ali, Naseer Khan Khoso, Talib Imam, Poonjomal, Sharfunnisa Leghari and Nuzhat Pathan.
On another motion, the house allowed transfer of the mandate of the Special Committee on Hawkesbay Scheme-42 to the Standing Committee on Planning and Development, headed by Rafique Engineer. The special committee had failed to meet over the past three years.
KARACHI, June 27: The Sindh Assembly on Wednesday approved the provincial budget for the year 2007-08 with the passage of the Finance Bill and rejected a motion moved by opposition member Murad Ali Shah calling for the referral of the bill to the select committee under Rule 89 (2).
