Another 16 ‘luxury’ car owners given interim relief
Staff Report
LAHORE: Justice Maulvi Anwarul Haq of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday, providing interim relief to another 16 petitioners, stayed the imposition of luxury tax on imported cars.
The judge fixed December 12 for further hearing on the petitions, along with a number of connected petitions which were already pending before the court. The petitioners, including M/s Millat Tractors, Sheikhupura Textile Mills and others, challenged the imposition of luxury tax on imported cars having engine capacity of 2000CC and above, which were registered after June 2005 vide Punjab Finance Act, 2008.
The petitioners submitted that the Punjab government, under Section 6 of the Punjab Finance Act, 2008, had imposed luxury tax on imported cars that were registered after June 30, 2005. They pointed out that they had paid the tax at a rate of two percent at the time of registration of their cars. They said that luxury cars like Mercedes Benz and BMW had been exempted from the luxury tax, which was sheer discrimination.