The Lahore High Court directed the federal government on Wednesday to tell it within three weeks whether cabinet's approval had been accorded before the parliament passed tax amnesty scheme in 2016. Sheraz Zaka advocate argued that tax amnesty accorded specifically for traders was discriminatory in violation of fundamental rights of citizens.

He questioned that why the tax amnesty scheme had been specifically created for the traders and they were given exemptions from filing tax returns for the past 10 years and also given exemptions from the scrutiny of audit and filing wealth statement. The lawyer argued that instead of bringing structural reforms, the federal government and federal board of revenue had taken this short term measure.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2017