Finance Act: LHC urged to strike down ‘tax on foreign assets’ clause

ISLAMABAD: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has been prayed to strike down clause (b) of sub-section (2) of section 8 of the Finance Act, 2022, dated 30-06-2022 being ultra vires of articles 1, 7, 23, 24, 25, 70 and 142 of the Constitution.

Zakauddin Malik through advocate Chaudhary Anwarul Haq Arif has filed the petition under Article 199 of the Constitution before the LHC, and cited the federation, government of the Punjab, and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) as respondents. The high court has issued notice to the respondents and the Attorney General for Pakistan for September 15.

He has further prayed to declare that the act of Parliament to include the word “movable” in the definition of “foreign assets” under definition clause (c) of sub-section (13) of the Section 8 of the Finance Act, 2022, to levy taxes on “movable properties” is ultra vires to the Constitution. Accordingly, the word ‘immovable” may be struck down from the definition clause.

Chaudhary Anwar submitted that under Article 142(a)(d) read with Article 1(2) of the Constitution and entry 50 of the Federal Legislative List, it is not in the competence of the Parliament to frame law to tax capital value of “assets” in a “state” outside the territorial jurisdiction of Pakistan.

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He stated that under entry 50 of the Federal Legislative List read with Article 70 of the constitution, the Parliament may only frame…

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