Vice President SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry and chairman United Business Group (UBG) Iftikhar Ali Malik welcoming Prime Minister’s plans to broaden tax base in Pakistan has said that wealthy and potential non tax payers must be brought into tax net at all cost and chambers will cooperate with the government in this regard
LAHORE(Pakistan Point News - 09th Feb, 2018 ) : Vice President SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry and chairman United Business Group (UBG) Iftikhar Ali Malik welcoming Prime Minister’s plans to broaden tax base in Pakistan has said that wealthy and potential non tax payers must be brought into tax net at all cost and chambers will cooperate with the government in this regard. Talking to a high level delegation of traders, importers and exporters from Sialkot led by Abdul Ghafoor Butt, Executive Member, Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) who called on him here on Friday, Iftikhar Ali Malik said that ratio of tax payers in Pakistan is even less than Afghanistan which he added is point to ponder and broadening of tax net is must for strengthening of the national economy and the survival of the country.
He said that Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) and top leadership of UBG is in principle, agreed to lend helping hand to the government in this regard. He said plugging of revenue leakage and broadening of tax net will ultimately benefit the existing tax payers in terms of reduction in heavy taxation. Iftikhar Ali Malik said that the UBG and all chambers across the country will not only resolve the issues being confronted by the traders but also convince the trading community to pay their due taxes timely.
He said Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has assured to address all the genuine grievances of the business community on top priority and had directed all ministry and attached departments to expedite the rederssal of the problems of the traders.“Around 1.2 million people pay taxes in Pakistan while the number of traders paying tax on electricity bills surpasses seven million, this gap can be bridged through sincere efforts backed by the government,” he observed.
The chairman UBG said there is consensus amongst the tax experts that most of the problems are stemming from weakness in the effective implementation of fiscal laws. He said that the corporate sector which is the most documented segment of the economy has been neglected. ‘The service, wholesale/retail, transport and the agriculture business sectors are still not fully documented hence their contribution to the national exchequer is negligible and majority are out of the tax net,’ he added.
He said tax audit is yet another weak side of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) as well as of provincial governments. There is urgent need of capacity building of the field formation officers with specialized training to undertake the challenges of tax audit. Highlighting Prime Minister’s plan to build taxpayer profiles through the National Database and Registration Authority, Iftikhar Ali Malik said earlier too, the National Database and Registration Authority has identified more than three million potential taxpayers, who have luxury houses in posh areas and multiple banks accounts and frequently visit foreign countries, but do not pay taxes.
He said these efforts failed because more than half of the notices could not be delivered to the recipients. “Reasons given for the failure in notice delivery include incomplete or incorrect addresses and people’s migration and refusal to receive the notices,” adding he said that no effective outcome of the project was possible until there was a fear of enforcement and audit among people. Currently, both are missing in the tax machinery of the country.
Iftikhar Ali Malik said Prime Minister should announce amnesty package across the board and bring overseer too into domain of amnesty with this precondition that money which will be declared legal through this scheme to be invested only in industrial sector. The veteran trade leader also said they demanded the government to abolish export development surcharge immediately. He said the export development surcharge was levied on exports as per the EDF Act 1998 and 0.25 percent is being deducted by banks from export proceeds, which is deposited in the federal treasury account. He said the traders and industrialists were playing a vital role for the promotion of businesses, industries, trade and investments in the country. He said the government should focus to extend every possible facility to the investors, industrialists, traders and businessmen.
