LAHORE: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) have decided to form Joint Working Group on Tax Reforms and to resolve the tax-related issues of the business community.
This was decided at a meeting between the LCCI President Engineer Sohail Lashari and Chairman CPD Committee of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) and renowned Tax Expert Rafqat Hussain here at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Friday.
It was also agreed that the Joint Working Group would have experts from the Lahore Tax Bar Association. The prime task of the Working Group would be to look into the tax laws and procedures and forward proposals to the provincial and federal governments.
The LCCI President Engineer Sohail Lashari said that most of the challenges being faced by the economy are directly linked to complicated and lengthy taxation procedures. He said that the idea behind the formation of the Working Group was to promote Public Private Dialogue (PPD) that is in vogue in the developed world.
The LCCI President informed the guest that during his recent visit to Europe, he found that EU states do not implement policies without due consultation of the stakeholders.
The LCCI President said that the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry believes that for the promotion of tax culture in Pakistan, the government would have to bring down the rate of the taxes besides bringing the untaxed sectors into the tax net.
Chairman CPD Committee of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan Rafqat Hussain said that flaws in taxation system causing loss of billions of rupees to the national exchequer. He said that a large number of taxes and difficult taxation system is also creating troubles for the taxpayers. He said that tax reforms like developed countries could enhance the government revenue. He said that ICAP and LCCI would make joint efforts in the larger interest of economy.
Vice President of Lahore Tax Bar Association Muhammad Noman Yahya also spoke on the occasion.
