House of Representatives Passes Finance Bill

A meeting of the House of Representatives today passed through a majority the Finance Bill, 2023 which has made provisions on the tax rates for the next fiscal year.

Finance Minister Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat presented a proposal in the meeting seeking passage of the Bill. The Bill was endorsed after the amendment proposals on it were rejected by a majority.

Lawmakers Prem Suwal, Sumana Shrestha, and Sishir Khanal presented an amendment proposal to the Bill. Presenting a proposal in the lower house to amend the Bill, lawmaker Suwal raised a question over the exemption on Capital Gains Tax provided to Ncell. He alleged the government failed to collect taxes from various private companies for many years.

He called attention to the government, saying it has not been able to collect tax from Hello Nepal Muktishree and Synergy Nepal companies for years.

Lawmaker Sumana Shrestha, presenting an amendment proposal on the Finance Bill, 2023, questioned the tax imposed at the customs. She demanded imposing customs duty on E-cigarettes. 

"Customs tax has not been levied on e-cigarette and personal e-smoking goods, whereas a 10 percent customs surcharge has been levied on pencils and pencil sharpeners used by kids," she complained. She opined that VAT should not be imposed on daily-consumption food and drew the government's attention towards determining the customs charges in a way to ease the import of raw materials for domestic production and products. Shrestha stressed the need of making arrangements so that the farmers' produce would fetch appropriate prices.

Presenting a proposal seeking an amendment to the Bill, lawmaker Shishir Khanal rapped the imposition of VAT on air tickets against the government's own policy of promoting domestic production growth and bringing a maximum number of foreign tourists to Nepal.