{"id":102531,"date":"2025-06-18T17:08:32","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T12:08:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zameen.com\/news\/?p=102531"},"modified":"2025-06-19T15:54:35","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T10:54:35","slug":"lawmakers-reject-tax-on-solar-panels-e-commerce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zameen.com\/news\/lawmakers-reject-tax-on-solar-panels-e-commerce.html","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers reject tax on solar panels, e-commerce"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Islamabad: In a major setback to the government\u2019s tax reform drive, the National Assembly Finance Committee and the Senate Standing Committee on Finance have rejected key proposals to impose new taxes on solar panels and e-commerce, both part of the government\u2019s efforts to meet International Monetary Fund (IMF)-backed fiscal targets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The NA finance committee on Tuesday unanimously rejected the proposed 18% sales tax on solar panels, which the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) estimated would have generated Rs20 billion in revenue. The proposal, introduced as part of the 2025\u201326 federal budget, was met with bipartisan resistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zameen.com\/news\/govt-ends-filer-vs-non-filer-distinction-in-budget.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Govt ends filer vs non-filer distinction in Budget 2025-26<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSolar is not a luxury, it\u2019s a necessity,\u201d said committee chair MNA Syed Naveed Qamar. \u201cWe won\u2019t allow taxation that discourages clean energy.\u201d Other lawmakers echoed the sentiment, urging the government to find alternate revenue sources. MNA Shahida Akhtar Ali suggested taxing sugary drinks instead of clean energy solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb defended the proposal, stressing the limited fiscal space and the government\u2019s plan to phase out all sector-specific subsidies. FBR Chairman Rashid Langrial also justified the tax by citing over-invoicing and underutilization of imported solar equipment\u2014nearly 13,000 MW out of 32,000 MW brought in over five years reportedly remains unused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, the Senate committee on Wednesday rejected a proposed tax on domestic e-commerce transactions but approved a new tax on the profits of elite private clubs. FBR Chairman Langrial called out such institutions as \u201cluxury spaces for a privileged few,\u201d claiming they hold billions in untaxed reserves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zameen.com\/news\/budget-brings-tax-reliefs-for-real-estate-sector.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Budget 2025\u201326 brings major tax reliefs for real estate sector<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While lawmakers pushed back against taxing solar and e-commerce, the government is continuing with other measures. A 2% sales tax on e-commerce transactions has already been introduced, and courier companies will now be responsible for collecting tax at source. Additionally, new taxes on global digital platforms like Google and YouTube have been proposed to raise Rs65 billion in the upcoming fiscal year. The rejection of these key proposals highlights growing political resistance to austerity measures tied to Pakistan\u2019s $7 billion IMF loan programme, especially where public utility and digital access are concerned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Islamabad: In a major setback to the government\u2019s tax reform drive, the National Assembly Finance Committee and the Senate Standing Committee on Finance have rejected key proposals to impose new taxes on solar panels and e-commerce, both part of the government\u2019s efforts to meet International Monetary Fund (IMF)-backed fiscal targets. The NA finance committee on Tuesday unanimously rejected the proposed 18% sales tax on solar panels, which the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) estimated would have generated Rs20 billion in revenue. The proposal, introduced as part of the 2025\u201326 federal budget, was met with bipartisan resistance. Read: Govt ends filer vs non-filer distinction in Budget 2025-26 \u201cSolar is not a luxury, it\u2019s a necessity,\u201d said committee chair MNA Syed Naveed Qamar. \u201cWe won\u2019t allow taxation that discourages clean energy.\u201d Other lawmakers echoed the sentiment, urging the government to find alternate revenue sources. MNA Shahida Akhtar Ali suggested taxing sugary drinks instead of clean energy solutions. Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb defended the proposal, stressing the limited fiscal space and the government\u2019s plan to phase out all sector-specific subsidies. FBR Chairman Rashid Langrial also justified the tax by citing over-invoicing and underutilization of imported solar equipment\u2014nearly 13,000 MW out of 32,000 MW&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":101386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15015],"tags":[34052,63332,65189,65329,64487,51866,65331,63747,65328,61663,65330,65327,65325,65326,61414,65333],"persona":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-102531","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-legal-taxation","8":"tag-clean-energy","9":"tag-digital-economy","10":"tag-e-commerce-tax","11":"tag-energy-policy-pakistan","12":"tag-fbr-tax-proposals","13":"tag-imf-programme","14":"tag-islamabad-club-tax","15":"tag-muhammad-aurangzeb","16":"tag-na-finance-committee","17":"tag-pakistan-budget-2025-26","18":"tag-rashid-langrial","19":"tag-senate-finance-committee","20":"tag-solar-panel-tax","21":"tag-syed-naveed-qamar","22":"tag-tax-reforms-pakistan","23":"tag-tech-taxation","24":"cat-15015-id"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Lawmakers reject tax on solar panels, e-commerce - Zameen News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The rejection of these key proposals highlights growing political resistance to austerity measures tied to Pakistan\u2019s $7 billion IMF loan...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.zameen.com\/news\/lawmakers-reject-tax-on-solar-panels-e-commerce.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lawmakers reject tax on solar panels, e-commerce - Zameen News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The rejection of these key proposals highlights growing political resistance to austerity measures tied to Pakistan\u2019s $7 billion IMF loan...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.zameen.com\/news\/lawmakers-reject-tax-on-solar-panels-e-commerce.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pakistan Real Estate News &amp; 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