Sindh Chief Minister’s Advisor for Information, Law and Anticorruption Barrister Murtaza Wahab, on Tuesday, claimed that Prime Minister Imran Khan was trying to hide his failures by holding the 18th Amendment responsible for Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) missed revenue targets.
In a statement in reaction to that earlier issued by PM Imran Khan, the provincial advisor noted that the premier’s explanation for the failure of tax collection was illogical and ridiculous.
He added that it simply exposed the lack of his knowledge.
Calling the 18th Amendment a landmark achievement for provincial autonomy, Wahab noted that it had ended long-standing deprivation felt by the smaller provinces. “Pakistan Peoples Party will stand against any attempt to roll back 18th Amendment,” he maintained. The CM Advisor also reminded the federal government that it was solely its own, not provinces’, responsibility to achieve revenue targets. The Sindh government had met its revenue targets with a six per cent growth in the current financial year, he continued.
Barrister Wahab noted that Sindh was at the forefront in revenue generation, with federal government as well other three provincial governments lagging behind.
Sindh was said to have collected Rs 127 billion during the current financial year. He further insisted that the federal government had completely failed; showing its inability in tax recovery.
In light of the performance of the Sindh government on revenue collection, the advisor demanded the federal government hand over the sales tax collection to the province.