KARACHI: Sindh Governor Muhammad Zubair has urged all the political parties to come forward and support the government’s measures for broadening of tax base in Pakistan.
Speaking at a high-level consultative meeting on tax reforms and public-private dialogue, organised by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) in collaboration with Centre for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) at local hotel, he said that his prime agenda was economic development of Sindh, particularly of Karachi.
The governor said that security and power were the major issues of Karachi and if these issues were resolved, global companies would market their products in Karachi. He added that incumbent government did much in Karachi for security and now was the time to launch economic initiatives to attract foreign investors to the metropolis under investment friendly environment.
Sindh Revenue Board (SRB) Advisor Tax Policy Syed Mushtaq Kazmi said that prior to 2010, FBR used to collect 17 percent sales tax on service and the amount transferred to the province on quarterly basis was just Rs 2 billion.
However, the SRB collected Rs 25 billion during its primary year, targeting Rs 78 billion for ongoing fiscal year with an ambition to achieve the landmark of Rs 100 billion by next financial year, he maintained. He suggested that the authority concerned to allow tax collection on origin basis and added that Tax Reform Commission should have a mandate to look provincial tax system as well.
