LAHORE: The Pakistan Business Forum (PBF) has decided to launch a movement to press the government for granting status of ‘National Hero’ to taxpayers.
The campaign will be part of the Pakistan Business Forum’s nationwide program ‘charter of economy’ under which the forum has already launched a national dialogue.
Muhammad Ejaz Tanveer, President, Lahore Chapter of the Forum, has written a letter to all the stakeholders in this regard, inviting them to work side by side with the Forum in this regard.
He further said that the forum wants direct taxation instead of indirect taxation in Pakistan. There is a need to increase the tax net in Pakistan and not to increase the existing tax rates. He said that this path is the guarantor of Pakistan’s economic development.
The leader of Pakistan Business Forum further said that besides respecting the taxpayer, reforms were also required in the FBR so that it would be business and taxpayer friendly and not a symbol of terror. He said that it was absolutely wrong that Pakistani traders and industrialists did not want to pay taxes. They want to pay taxes, but the magic of statistics and difficult methods become a headache for them.
`If most of the tax is levied on fixed taxation basis then not only the tax net will increase but also its amount will increase’, Ejaz added.
Muhammad Ejaz Tanveer added that sales tax should be in single digit. We demand that in the event of a business dispute, the FBR, rather than the NAB, play a key role. This requires the creation of fast-paced “digital business courts.” We believe that now agricultural income should also be taxed. In the same way, we have to take some other bold steps.
For example, instead of import base trade policy, we have to proceed under local production base industrial policy. We have to focus on local production of industrial raw materials. Another important step is for the government to keep the markup on industrial loans to a minimum. We have to focus on eradicating the scourge of smuggling in our charter economy as it is a poison for the local industry.
