ISLAMABAD: Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) Acting President Sheikh Pervez Ahmed has called upon the government to bring agricultural sector into the tax net in the forthcoming budget. He said that agriculture sector was contributing over one-fifth to the domestic output but was generating less than 0.1 percent of the total tax revenue due to which the country’s fiscal deficit is on the rise and the tax collection was one of the lowest in the region.
He said that agriculture sector was playing a major role in generating business and economic activities and providing jobs to a majority of the rural population, but was paying negligible amount to the tax revenue which was not justified. He said after the 18th constitutional amendment, agriculture sector was devolved to the provinces and provincial governments were expected to take strong measures to bring agriculture income into the tax net. However, the unwillingness of the provinces to tax agriculture income has made the country dependent on foreign borrowings which would jeopardize the future of our coming generations. He said the current government enjoyed two third majority in the parliament and was in a good position to enact laws to bring agriculture income into the tax net.
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Sheikh Pervez Ahmed said that the current taxation system was unfair and inequitable as it heavily taxed the industrial sector whereas the services and agriculture sectors were enjoying many tax exemptions despite the fact that they were making significant contribution to the GDP of the country. He said instead of generating more revenue for the country, the prevailing tax system was stifling the economic growth, promoting inefficiency and widening the gap between the rich and the poor.
He stressed that government should focus on developing a fair and equitable tax system that should collect tax from every taxable income. He said government should also simplify the current complex tax system, lower tax rates and levy tax on agriculture income that would help in generating trillions of rupees as tax revenue for the country.
