ISLAMABAD: Officers of the Foreign Office (FO) have warned of a pen-down strike against the imposition of income tax on foreign allowance to the officers posted in Pakistan’s missions abroad, as well as the denial of executive allowance to the officers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
These concerns have been addressed to the Ministry of Finance by Special Secretary Ministry of Foreign Affairs Raza Bashir Tarar through a letter dated July 28, 2022.
Tarar, who is also chair of the Ad-hoc Committee of the Foreign Service of Pakistan Officers Association (FSPOA), conveyed to the Finance Ministry that the unprecedented, unwarranted, and unfair imposition of income tax on foreign allowance (and possible perquisites) on officers and staff members of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as, other ministries/ agencies posted in Pakistan’s missions abroad has “shaken the morale of the personnel to its core.
“Amidst this situation, we are deeply grateful to our foreign minister for his leadership and forceful advocacy with the concerned quarters. We also appreciate the efforts of our Administration Division to sort out the issue of Foreign Allowance taxation, as well as, denial of Executive Allowance to officers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” reads the text of the letter of July 28, 2022.
Tarar further wrote that while the matter is being discussed with the Ministry of Finance and the Federal Board of Revenue, the FSP officers are worried about that technically the tax has become collectible from 1st July 2022.
According to media reports, it noted that the Ministry of Finance has attributed the imposition to a demand by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In this regard, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has forwarded the following questions:
(i) Has IMF ever demanded such taxation even from countries with greater economic difficulties than those of Pakistan?
(ii) If this taxation were so important for IMF, why was it not discussed thoroughly with them and instead quietly slipped in on 29th June, 2022?
(iii) Why did Ministry of Finance and Federal Board of Revenue not consult this Ministry and other concerned departments before putting the measure in place?
“The above aspects and some reported assertions of the Ministry of Finance have exacerbated the anxiety of over personnel. There is also a widely shared worry that the Ministry of Finance is using dilatory tactics due to which the Foreign Office has suffered on many occasions in the past,” the MOFA’s letter further pointed out.
Accordingly, it added that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ personnel are expecting the Ministry to insist that the matter be resolved at the earliest. “They are also wondering what MOFA intends to do if its efforts do not succeed…For their part our personnel see it as a redline and there are growing voices calling for a pen-down strike and even litigation,” it warned, adding that there is a demand among officers for an organised protest like a pen-down strike.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
Comments
Comments are closed.