ISLAMABAD The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would not get general exemption from Reform General Sales Tax (RGST), however tax waivers given in the provinces economic revival package after the Swat operation would be available till 2012. This was the, inter alia, outcome of the two-day meeting of the federal and provincial finance secretaries aimed at harmonising the legislations of the Centre and the provinces on the RGST. Hectic efforts on part of the bureaucrats representing the Centre and the provinces could not succeed in reaching an overall or national consensus on the proposed RGST, let alone harmonising the draft laws for the levy. According to senior officials privy to the meeting, Federal Secretary Finance Salman Siddiq would incorporate provinces suggestions in the draft of the General Sales Tax Bill 2010 in consultation with the Federal Board of Revenue. The provincial finance secretaries would convene again under Secretary Siddiq on Tuesday (December 14) with a hope to give final shape to the respective provincial legislations on RGST in harmony with the GST Bill 2010 of the Centre. The Federal Finance Ministry officials were confident of timely finalisations of the uniform legislations at the earliest, preferably before the next session of National Assembly scheduled for December 20. However, the provincial finance departments went back with reservations and apprehensions about the draft law of the Federal Government on the RGST, official sources said. The Federal Government has been striving hard to get the draft of provincial legislations on RGST finalised before December 17 when the International Monetary Fund Executive Board meeting is scheduled. The Government was still hopeful to convince the IMF for release of remaining tranches of the $11.3 billion standby loan expiring on December 31. The IMF during its last review of the economy had conditioned the release of any more tranches of the standby loan with imposition of RGST, revamping the power sector by withdrawal of subsidies and consequential increase in electricity tariff. Last but not the least IMF has also required the Government to slash its current expenditures as well in order to meet the deficit containment target that ironically has gone to the backburner. According to the sources, the issue of different preferably lower than the flat 15 per cent rates of standalone services was handed over to the experts of the Federal Finance Ministry that would consult the World Bank in this regard. The sources further told The Nation that non-availability of the input cost in the case of standalone services was the major issue in having a different rate of value added tax on them. This is the basic concept of a value added tax like the RGST to tax only the amount of value added at a particular stage in the entire chain of manufacturing and value addition, they added. Therefore it was premature according to the sources to say whether or not the provinces quest to have different rates of RGST on standalone services was workable. Balochistan and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were not happy with the news federal finance secretary gave them that general exemption from RGST was not possible. The exemption seeking provinces were told that it was the Federal Governments prerogative to give any tax waiver package for any area or industry as and when the need arises.