KATHMANDU: The National Assembly (NA) has endorsed the ‘Finance Bill 2078 BS’ and the ‘Bill to Mobilize Internal Loan 2078 BS’.
Finance Minister Janardan Sharma proposed the meeting separately to pass the Bills received from the House of Representatives with a message. As none came forward to take part in the deliberations, the Upper House accepted the documents with a majority of votes.
Once the meeting convened, main opposition CPN (UML) lawmakers stood from their respective seats to protest against the House proceedings, NA Chair Ganesh Prasad Timilsina granted time to party lawmaker Parshuram Meghi Gurung to put forth his opinion.
Lawmaker Gurung drew the NA’s attention towards the Bill introduced by the incumbent government to replace the budget announced by the erstwhile UML-led government through an ordinance.
He also demanded that the annual income of the party leadership should be made public. He accused the government of bringing the Substitution Bill giving tax discounts to different individuals and removing the condition for presenting the source of income.
In his replies, Finance Minister Sharma said the government intended to expand the tax net keeping the laws against money laundering and corruption untouched. The NA shall meet again at 1:00 pm on October 3.
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