MULTAN: The business community in the country is working in an unfavorable atmosphere due to multiple reasons and the government has failed to provide any relief to the traders so far.
This was stated by Central Chairman All Pakistan Anjuman Tajiran Pakistan Khawaja Suleman Siddiqui in an exclusive interview given to Customs Today on the other day in his office.
He told CT that small medium enterprises are the most important sector of the national economy and the cost of the business has increased due to imposition of enormous taxes by the government. He said the traders are paying more indirect taxes than direct taxes in the country and people have a huge trust-deficit in tax machinery due to their irrational system.
The Federal Board of Revenue has promoted the money laundering and Hawala (Hundi) system in the country by imposing Withholding Tax on withdrawal of cash from the bank, he lamented. The business community is not interested in paying taxes voluntarily due to irrational tax system. Traders will pay their taxes if government facilitates them by promoting their business activities in return.
With the prevailing economic situation, the government needs to look at other alternatives and formulate an effective future plan to revive the national economy, he advised. So the government should focus on the development of small and medium enterprises by keeping in view the significant contribution of small traders to the export sector.
He further told CT that the government has also failed to overcome unemployment therefore the government must promote production of export oriented and value adding industries by giving exporters special incentives.
He informed CT that local importers avoid clearance of shipments from Multan Dry Port due to high cost of freight charges. Importers are paying dual taxes for the clearance of their import shipments at Multan Dry Port after the imposition of taxes by the Punjab Revenue Authority. Importers of South Punjab are facing frequent delay in clearance of their import shipments due to numerous reasons. Sometimes customs staff forces objections on the documents at the time of clearance just for bribe and corruption which is a common practice in the clearance of import consignments. Although we raised voice against corruption at the Dry Port yet it turned out to be useless as all are involved in this practice, he added. He demanded that government introduce simplified import clearance procedure so as to reduce the role of clearing agent and customs staff in the clearance of shipment.
He reminded that the government had promised to end energy crisis by developing new alternate energy sources but they could not do anything practical since a decade. Traders are paying high electricity charges and energy shortage has also increased the cost of small and large businesses in the country.
He maintained that poor political law and order and strikes are damaging the peaceful business environment. He demanded that government provide favorable atmosphere to the business community for running and flourishing its trade.
