karachi: The Sindh government offers a tax waiver for registering the motor vehicles imported from abroad by genuine charities in the province in line with the similar tax exemption policy of the federal government aimed at facilitating the operations of charitable organisations.
Sindh Excise & Taxation Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla spoke on the policy of the provincial government to extend tax relief to charities as he answered the questions of lawmakers during the question hour of the provincial assembly on Thursday.
Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) legislator Muhammad Hussain Khan raised the question about the criteria used by the excise department in offering tax relief to anyone because, according to him, such tax-related concessions are offered without any meritorious grounds just like what happens in a monarchy.
Chawla said the Sindh government approves the applications of charities for extending them tax relief after reviewing that those organisations have been given tax exemption by the Centre on the import of vehicles for their core charitable work.
The minister said that there obviously exists no monarchy in Sindh to take such decisions, but the provincial government has to offer tax relief for the vehicles of charities that are used as ambulances or coffin carriers for the people in the province.
He told the House that such a tax waiver is offered to bona fide charitable organisations working in the province, like the Edhi Foundation, the Chhipa Foundation, the Alamgir Welfare Trust and the Sindh Institute of Urology & Transplantation.
Answering another question, Chawla told the legislators that original registration number plates are issued to all the new vehicles by the excise department at the time of their registration.
Meanwhile, PA Speaker Agha Siraj Khan Durrani greeted MQM lawmaker Rana Ansar on becoming the first-ever female parliamentary party leader in the House. She has replaced Kanwar Naveed Jameel, who has been ill for the past many months.
The speaker hoped that the new parliamentary party leader of the MQM would perform her duties in the House with devotion and hard work. MPAs on the treasury and the opposition benches also greeted her on assuming the new role.