FAISALABAD: Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) has prepared draft proposals for Budget 2016-17 while the national level pre-budget seminar will be held during next month.
FCCI President Chaudahry Muhammad Nawaz ‘appreciated the efforts of FCCI Advisor on Accounts Hamid Masood for making draft of budget proposal and said that this chamber was preparing dudget proposals for the last many years, which are presented to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for including in the federal budget. He said that it is very encouraging that most of our proposals are discussed at the highest level and many of these are incorporated in the federal budget. He further said that FCCI has been making efforts to prepare the budget proposals. In this connection, the proposals are invited from all sectors of the economy and various trade associations affiliated with this Chamber.
He said Hamid Masood has been working closely on preparing of budget proposals, which was reflective of his keen interest in this national task.
Senior Vice President Syed Zia also lauded the efforts of Hamid Masood and said that earlier FCCI had also compiled 167 pages draft of Companies Draft Bill 2016. He said that FCCI was the only chamber in Pakistan which has contributed its role in the preparation of this draft document and our efforts were appreciated and acknowledged in the concerned circles in Islamabad.
Earlier Hamid Masood while giving briefing on the budget proposals said that government should tax all the sectors without giving exemptions to any sector. Similarly, in order to enhance the revenue, government should enhance the enforcement capacity of FBR field staff. “At present there was no reliable system for the evaluation of FBR officials and hence performance and integrity of FBR staff should be carried out on regular basis.
He further informed that tax payers are facing multiple problems while filing their returns on e-portal of FBR. Hence, they should be given access to the FBR portal for the verification of taxes paid by them through e-portal.
Regarding policy matters, he said that income tax rate for corporate sector is highest in the world. At present it is 32 percent which should be reduced to a reasonable level. He told that earlier Alternative Dispute Resolution Committees (ADRCs) were constituted to settle the disputes between tax payers and tax collectors. However, for years these Committees have become redundant. Hence, in next budget these should be made functional, he demanded.
He also pointed out some discrepancies in Voluntary Tax Compliance (VTC) Scheme and said that circulars have been issued to temporarily solve these problems. He proposed constitutional cover for these measures in the next budget. He further told that rate of GST is currently 17 percent which should be brought down to 10 percent.
