A constitutional bench of five members (CB) led by judge Aminuddin Khan resumed a case relating to the taxation of super taxes on Monday.
The lawyer for the Federal Board of Return (FBR), Asma Hamid, began with opening arguments. She informed the court that no taxpayer had challenged the verdict of the High Court of Lahore (LHC), confirming the legality of the super tax imposed under article 4C of the income tax order, 2001, while reducing its rate for several industries.
She added that the High Court of Islamabad (IHC) had already made decisions on the two sections of the case, noting that 89 petitioners had filed requests in the IHC in 2022.
A bench of three LHC judges led by judge Jawwad Hassan had rejected petitions contesting the constitutionality of the levy and judged that the government had the power to impose such a tax under the finance law 2022. However, the court reduced the tax rate by 10% to 4% for 16 sectors, including the bank, offering partial relief to the petitioners.
During the hearing today, judge Muhammad Ali Mazhar asked what was the common factor in all judicial decisions and asked for a brief summary of all decisions before the court.
Hamid informed the bench that, in the case before the LHC, most petitioners had already approached the CIHC first.
Read: The Supreme Court CB gives the distribution of super taxes to the provinces
The bench postponed the hearing until 9:30 am tomorrow (Tuesday).
Super taxes
The Super Tax is an additional direct debit on individuals, companies and high industries, intended for large companies. In the federal budget of 2022-2023, the government has imposed up to 10% super taxes on the main sectors, including cement, steel, sugar, oil and gas, fertilizers, banks, textiles and others, citing the need to increase additional income for economic stabilization.
Petitions were deposited before the SC by individuals and organizations contesting the super tax introduced by the PML-N government in 2015 to collect funds for people displaced by the Zarb-Ezb operation.
Earlier this year, the high -level court wondered if the federal government could distribute Super tax tax revenue to the provinces. Lawyers argued that the levy, introduced in 2016 to finance displaced persons, has since been extended, but no funds have been used for the objective.
