ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC) will make public its reserved verdict on a suo motu case regarding the imposition of 17 percent general sales tax (GST) at increased rates proposed in the budget.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry yesterday reserved its ruling in the case.
During the hearing, CJ Chaudhry remarked that the court does not prevent the government from imposing a tax but, the procedural mechanism employed to ramp up GST from 16 to 17 percent, is unacceptable.
He also noted that the government raised one per cent GST; but, the shopkeepers pushed it up to 15 per cent in prices of basic commodities, adding the provincial governments have no control over prices; hence, everyone is spurring the prices at their own will.
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) does nothing where it should, if the board functions properly, the revenues could easily be collected, he added.
