ISLAMABAD: Ahmed Hassan Moughal, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry has called upon the government to consider giving good incentives to regular taxpayers that would motivate others to pay tax and promote tax culture in the country. He said businessmen wanted to pay tax, but instead of broadening tax base, FBR’s measures to create harassment in the existing taxpayers were discouraging others to come into the tax net.
Ahmed Hassan Moughal said that Prime Minister Imran Khan himself acknowledged while addressing a tax awards ceremony that Pakistan could not prosper with just 1.7 million people filing tax returns in a country of 210 million people. He stressed that government should come up with attractive incentives for taxpayers to honor them that would motivate others to pay tax. He said Prime Minister Imran Khan termed the high taxpayers as true VIPs of Pakistan, which was encouraging, but added that government should take some practical measures to give them honor and dignity in society. He said declaring income of over Rs.200,000 by only 72,000 persons from across the country should be a cause of concern for policymakers. He said the main reason of tax evasion in the country was that the money of taxpayers was not being spent on providing better health, education and other facilities to people. He assured that ICCI would cooperate in resolving the issues of the traders of Blue Area.
Rafat Farid Senior Vice President and Iftikhar Anwar Sethi Vice President ICCI said that recent publication of tax directory by FBR showed stark contradiction in the tax amount paid by various politicians and their lifestyle. They stressed that politicians should be role models in tax payment to promote tax culture in the country.
