MULTAN: All trade bodies have unanimously announced a nation-wide protest strike against the imposition of withholding tax on banking transaction today.
All Pakistan Anjuman-i-Tajaraan chairmen Khawaja Muhammad Shafiq said in a media briefing that traders in Multan will march around the Federal Board of Revenue Regional Income Tax Office Multan and hold a sit-in there on Wednesday.
He demanded the government constitute a central committee and 14 regional committees to settle the withholding tax issue. Shafiq said that they had not ruled out talks with the government. He urged the government to discuss the matter with “real” stakeholders.
He said that they had presented a charter of demands to the government for the solution of this issue. He said that they had also asked the government to defer the imposition of withholding tax on bank transactions till December 31. “The 0.3 per cent tax on cash withdrawal should be suspended for those filing tax returns and tax collected since August should be refunded,” he said.
He said the government could amend the Sales Tax Act 1999 and recover wholesale tax from manufacturers and importers. “Traders should be exempted from value added tax.”
