SC questions parliament’s power to slap super tax

Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, a member of the five-judge Supreme Court constitutional bench, on Tuesday questioned whether the National Assembly could be granted specific authority under the constitution to enact tax legislation that operates outside the financial year. Headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan, the CB was hearing multiple petitions filed by taxpayers challenging the constitutional vires of the amen­ded Section 4C of the Income Tax Ordinance (ITO), 2001, applicable to the tax year 2023. However, senior counsel Hafiz Ehsaan Ahmad Khokhar, representing the Federal Board of Rev­e­nue (FBR), argued that the present case did not involve any question of the National Assembly’s legislative competence. During the hearing, Add­­i­­tional Attorney Gen­e­ral Chaudhry Aamir Reh­m­an informed the court that the federal governm­ent would submit a written response within a few days.