Overview
- A five-member constitutional bench led by Justice Aminuddin Khan continued hearings on petitions against the super tax under Section 4C and questioned whether it can lawfully apply to already taxed income.
- Advocate Farogh Naseem argued that the statute does not describe the levy as an additional tax, warned against double taxation, and will resume his submissions on Thursday.
- Counsel Shehzad Ata Elahi concluded his arguments on predictability in taxation, while Salman Akram Raja requested brief time at a later sitting to address a specific point.
- Justices raised concerns about the levy’s downstream impact on ordinary consumers and on provident fund beneficiaries, with queries on how deductions and advance calculations would work.
- FBR defended Parliament’s authority to impose the levy and noted the Lahore High Court upheld Section 4C’s legality while reducing rates to 4% for 16 sectors.