8th NFC Award: Sindh govt opposes agenda of first meeting

Decides to register protest with the federal govt on GST.

KARACHI: Sindh government, on Monday, has decided to oppose the agenda of the proposed first meeting of the 8th National Finance Commission (NFC), which is likely to be held on December 16, in Islamabad.

In this regard, a meeting chaired by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah here at the CM House, discussed the preparations of Sindh government for the next meeting.

In the agenda, the federal ministry has included an item regarding the imposition of general sales tax (GST) on services in an integrated mode, which aims at reassigning GST on services to Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) instead of Sindh government-which has already established Sindh Board of Revenue to collect the tax.

“GST on services is a provincial subject enshrined in the constitution of Pakistan, so any attempt to take away the collection powers of this tax from the provinces, would mean a violation of constitution,” sources privy to the meeting quoting CM said, adding that following the 18 Amendment, constitutional right had been given to Sindh, but it seems the federal bureaucracy wanted to forcibly snatch the same.

It may be mentioned here that a few days ago, Shah had also written a letter to the president of Pakistan to intervene in the matter and direct the federal finance ministry from touching issues which were already settled in the 7th NFC.

Furthermore, an official statement issued from the CM House said that the meeting also reviewed progress of devolution of departments after the 18th amendment and it was decided that the problems and issues will be resolved on priority basis.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 13^th, 2011.