MANSEHRA: Peshawar High Court’s Abbottabad Circuit bench has restricted the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Excise and Taxation Department from sealing hotels on non-payment of bed tax in Kaghan valley until further order.
Justice Ijaz Khan in a short order restricted the Excise and Taxation Department from sealing hotels on a writ petition moved by hoteliers in Kaghan valley.Saqib Khan Lughmani advocate, who had filed the writ petition in PHC’s Abbottabad circuit bench on behalf of his clients, told reporters here on Friday that his client Seth Matiullah, the president of the hoteliers’ association, had challenged the imposition of a 10 percent bed tax.
“We have challenged the imposition of dual taxes as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Authority, a provincial entity, has also been receiving tax from hoteliers in Kaghan valley,” he added.Lughmani said that his clients through a panel of lawyers led by him and, including Barrister Hashim Iqbal Jadoon, pleaded in the court that the hospitality industry in Kaghan valley was limited to a two to three-month period in summer and in such a situation they couldn’t pay bed tax.
“Officials of Excise and Taxation Department have frequently been visiting hotels and demanding the bed tax and harassing hoteliers of the consequence of the sealing of the hotels,” he added.
He said that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government in its Finance Act 2021 has proposed the collection of a 10 per cent bed tax on their entire revenue from rooms which they had also challenged and pleaded the court to waive it completely.