It was informed in the National Assembly’s Finance Committee that apart from the Pakistan International Airline (PIA), other airlines will also get an 18 percent sales tax exemption.
The 18 percent sales tax will not be levied on the lease of new aircraft and purchase of spare parts. The Finance Committee made the proposal for tax exemption for other airlines part of the Finance Bill.
The Committee also included tax exemption for the remaining airlines in the Finance Bill from July 1, 2027. The issue of aircraft lease and purchase of spare parts for PIA is under discussion in the meeting.
Finance Secretary suggested that tax exemption should be approved only to the extent of PIA. If there is tax exemption for PIA, why not for the rest, Syed Naveed Qamar questioned.
He said suggest a middle ground, make the exemption for PIA for one year. Do not make it part of the finance bill, give your suggestions, we will go to the IMF, authorities said.
Naveed Qamar said making it part of the finance bill, a report has to be presented in the assembly. Authorities said we will go to the IMF that this is being done for competition in the market.
We will write that from next year, the rest of the airlines will also get this exemption, Syed Naveed Qamar said.
Dr Nafisa Shah questioned will the rest of the airlines also be given for fifteen years. Sharmila Farooqi said the policy should not be for any one, it should be for the entire sector.
Sharmila Farooqi said if a new airline comes tomorrow, it will already suffer a loss from the 18 percent tax. She said we should give a neutral policy for a sector.
If you want to give so much relief, its impact should also come on prices, Javed Hanif said. PIA's first privatization attempt failed, Committee Member Arshad Abdullah said.
Reporter: Waqas Azeem