Need for National Tax Court
Law Reform Report No 142 of the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan proposes an International Commercial Court of Pakistan as a specialised Federal Superior Court. Crucially, Clause (3) of the draft Article 212A expressly permits parliament to confer original or appellate jurisdiction over "taxation" and other economic and commercial matters. That opening should not be treated as drafting surplusage. Pakistan's tax jurisprudence is now too economically consequential, technically complex and internally contested to remain dispersed among departmental appellate authorities; two tax tribunals, five High Courts, the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) and Supreme Court.