ISLAMABAD, Nov 12: Over noisy protests from the opposition and a slippery ally, the government on Friday brought to parliament two bills to bring promised general sales tax (GST) reforms and one-time levy of a so-called flood tax.
Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh was barely audible amid hostile slogan-chanting when he read out his motions in the National Assembly introducing the General Sales Tax Bill and the Finance (Amendment) Bill, both of which must now go to the standing committee on finance for scrutiny before coming back to the house, probably next month, for approval to become laws.
The two bills were later introduced in the Senate to a milder protest by the MQM and JUI members in the absence of the opposition.
The introduction of the bills comes two days before a related meeting of the Pakistan Development Forum of international donors in Islamabad to consider Pakistan
