ISLAMABAD: The PML-N government is considering to introduce a three-year tax amnesty scheme with incentives to whiten black money at home and abroad through SRO instead of routing it through parliament, Dawn has learnt.

The package is aimed at providing relief to the elite at the cost of toiling masses, experts interpret.

The scheme that targets mobilisation of resources towards industry will probably be effective from January 1, 2014.

“We are giving final touches to the notifications”, a tax official in the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) said when contacted by Dawn on Monday.

Through the Finance Act 2014, the government has already abolished section 120 A of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001, which allowed the FBR to launch such schemes.

Legal and financial experts believe that the announcement of such schemes through SROs will violate the relevant laws and a PPP leader has already declared that the party would lodge its protest against the proposed scheme in the next session of the Senate.

A FBR official, however, said that the scheme will not be projected as an ‘amnesty scheme’ but it would exempt money invested in industry from probe regarding the source of capital mobilised.

Senator Raza Rabbani termed the proposed scheme as the ‘mother of NRO’.

He said the PML-N government intended to bypass the parliament and wanted to give concessions to “its friends”.

Terming the government’s claim of announcing the scheme under section 53 of the income tax ordinance as wrong, he alleged that Finance Minister Ishaq Dar was taking refuge under this section to avoid parliamentary scrutiny.

Rabbani said the previous PPP government had introduced a bill in the parliament which was almost similar to the proposed amnesty plan, but it could not garner support from political parties to get it passed through the parliament.

According to the tax official no one would be allowed to whiten non-developmental expenditures like house, property, cars etc., under the scheme.

This facility shall not be available to certain sectors namely arms & ammunition, explosives, fertilisers, sugar, cigarettes, aerated beverages, cement, textile spinning units, flour mills, vegetable, ghee and cooking oil manufacturers, as these sectors are either already have excess capacity or are anti-social.

The facility will also not be available to funds arising from crimes committed under Narcotic Substances Act 1997, Anti Terrorist Act1997 and the Anti money Laundering Act 2010.