ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Wednesday unanimously adopted 157 recommendations for the National Assembly for consideration and possible inclusion in the budget, including a minor amendment to the Finance Bill 2017.

The house proposed that health levy of Rs10 per kilogram imposed on the sale of tobacco leaf should be withdrawn, but in contrast recommended that the amount collected as tax on cigarettes be spent on the health sector.

It recommended that steps should be taken for encouraging taxpayers and first 5,000 taxpayers be accorded the status of VIP citizens. The Senate recommended that a mechanism should be evolved to bring non-filers into the tax net to increase revenue.

One of them suggests amount collected as tax on cigarettes be spent on health sector

It recommended that advanced tax and sales tax imposed on mobile phone cards of Rs100 should be withdrawn. The Senate recommended that additional customs duty of one per cent proposed to be imposed on industrial raw materials should be withdrawn.

The house recommended that minimum stipend for all interns should be fixed at Rs20,000. It recommended that the increase in petroleum development levy as proposed in Clause 2 of the Finance Bill 2018 should be restricted to an increase of 25pc over the existing rate. The proposed import duty on soybean oil should be reduced even from the present value or it should remain as present.

The Senate recommended that federal excise duty on domestic airline tickets should be reduced from Rs3600 to Rs1800 and taxes and duties on hybrid and electric cars should be identical.

One of the recommendations was that the commissioner Inland Revenue should not be allowed to reopen cases prior to 10 years.

The Senate recommended to the National Assembly that in order to protect the dairy sector, tariff on import of skimmed milk powder should be increased from 45pc to 50pc. In order to encourage the fishery sector, exemption should be given on GST imposed on the import of “fish babies/seedlings” from 20pc to 5pc. Regulatory duty on fish fillet and frozen fish should be increased from 45pc to 60pc, it recommended.

The Senate recommended that the concessions given on agricultural machinery in the budget 2016-17 under S.No.1 of 5th Schedule to the Customs Act, 1969, should continue.

It recommended that the membership of chamber of commerce and industry should be made compulsory for all businessmen in order to become a filer and for the better of tax system a central business data record system should also be established.

The Senate recommended that steps should be taken to introduce tax reforms for the promotion of industry in less developed areas. It recommended that sales tax on import of plant and machinery for setting up refinery plants in Balochistan should be exempted. The sales tax exemption should be extended for dumpers and trucks used in the chromites and coal areas of Balochistan, it recommended.

Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2018