LAHORE: Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) President Sheikh Muhammad Arshad has urged the government to introduce tax reforms in consultation with the stakeholders to promote tax culture in the country.
Talking to a 25-member delegation of tax lawyers led by the Zulfiqar Khan, the LCCI president said that most of the challenges being faced by the economy are directly linked to complicated and lengthy taxation procedures. He said that the EU states do not implement policies without due consultation of the stakeholders.
LCCI vice president Nasir Saeed, former secretary of Lahore Tax Bar Association Aamir Qadeer and former office-bearers of Pakistan Tax Bar and Lahore Tax Bar Associations also spoke on the occasion.
Sheikh Muhammad Arshad 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.
He 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.
The LCCI vice president Nasir Saeed in his address 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 taxes besides bringing the untaxed sectors into the tax net.
Former secretary Lahore Tax Bar Association Aamir Qadeer said that a large number of taxes and difficult taxation system is creating troubles for the taxpayers.
Muhammad Amir Qadeer urged the Federal Board of Revenue to resolve the issue of inactiveness of IRIS system instead of giving repeated deadline for filing of tax return.
He said that people are facing serious problems while working with the FBR online services as their online request do not go through the online portal and cannot be retrieved by the concerned authorities.
“How it is possible for the people to file their returns when FBR IRIS system is not issuing NTN numbers”, he questioned. He said that Federal Board of Revenue’s online system IRIS is creating problems since long but business community is unable to understand that why immediate attention was not paid to solve the issue.
He said that Federal Board of Revenue would have to facilitate the business community in maximum to achieve the massive revenue target of Rs.3100 billion set for the ongoing financial year. He assured the LCCI president of his best cooperation for the cause of trade and industry.
