ISLAMABAD: The Tran­sparency International Pakistan (TIP) has appealed to the chief justice of the Supreme Court to take suo motu action on what it called the ‘financial NRO’ introduced by the government in the form of two blanket tax amnesty schemes — voluntary tax registration and voluntary declaration of assets.

TIP Adviser Syed Adil Gilani urged Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali to order appropriate action to ban such tax amnesty schemes.

The Transparency claimed that the scheme titled ‘Tax Incentive Package’ was unconstitutional in accordance with Article 2 which guarantees the principle of equality.

The TIP, Mr Gilani said, wrote to the prime minister on Dec 26, objecting to the scheme. However, no action was taken and the ministry of finance introduced the ‘tax amnesty bill’ in the National Assembly.

He said the tax amnesty scheme announced in 2008 was misused, and the Federal Tax Ombudsman had asked the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to ensure proper monitoring of taxpayers who filed declarations, and also monitor it for the mandatory three years’ filing requirement. It was reported that the FBR did not identify a single case of violation out of more than 10,000 claimants, he added.

Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2016