Unfair favour?

During its election campaign, the PTI and Imran Khan had promised a ‘new’ order in the country under which nepotism and favouritism would end – bringing a sea change in life. So, for a country which desperately seeks to broaden avenues for tax collection, allegations regarding nepotism – particularly concerning a large media house at the cost of all others – is a matter of grave concern. The matter pertains to a case of fraud and tax evasion from 2012-13. Now the Pakistan Broadcasters Association has felt it compelling to write a letter to the government hinting at possible favouritism to the ARY group of TV channels. The amount under question is nearly a billion rupees of tax evasion that was detected in 2013 by the government of Pakistan itself. There are some questions that must be answered so that the matter can be clarified. First, how and why was an illegal exemption certificate on airtime and content issued to a specific media group? If that certificate was not unlawful, then why were similar certificates not granted to other media houses? If this was a simple incentive to encourage business, again the same question applies.

For the sake of fairness and equal treatment to all, the basic premise of any tax regime is that it is not discriminatory in nature. All have a right to be treated equally not only in the eye of the law but also by tax authorities. To provide similar tax treatment to all, it is imperative that no one get preferential treatment under dubious claims. The PBA is right in their demand that either the beneficiary be forced to pay the tax as it is paid by other media houses, or all media groups be allowed this privilege and their billions of rupees worth of tax that they have already paid be adjusted against their future liabilities. It is noteworthy that in 2019 the FBR had already served notices to the accused media group for raising tax demands of Rs992 million. The FBR initiated an inquiry in June 2019 and another notice was served in September, 2019, for evading huge amounts of taxes through misrepresentation and concealment.

For all this period the media house has been unable to clear its position, and this has already been highlighted by the FBR itself. Another serious charge is that the said media group allegedly tampered with previously-submitted agreement and other documents. That the accused group has been misusing exemptions and by doing so caused substantial losses to the national exchequer is an extremely serious charge and no doubt needs a thorough investigation.