MULTAN: Payment of taxes is mandatory for prosperity of the country and the people, said PML-N’s Parliamentary Secretary Shaheen Shafiq.
Shaheen said this while addressing a workshop for awareness of public sector withholding tax agents, organized by Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) in cooperation with GIZ, a German NGO. She said the country could also retire all of its external debt provided people started paying taxes in time and with honesty.
The Parliamentary Secretary said that such events should be organised frequently to refresh knowledge of officials and tax payers and smoother interaction between them. She urged the tax officials to contact elected representatives [lawmakers] for help in case they face difficulty in collecting revenue.
Multan PRA Additional Commissioners Rais Abdul Hayee Humayun and Zeeshan Nazir Khan said that the workshop was meant to build capacity of withholding tax agents. They said that government was pursuing a policy of giving due honour to tax payers and providing upgraded facilities to them. They said that performance of tax collection departments was also improving.
Deputy Commissioner Asif Nadeem said that sales tax had been levied on 62 services under Punjab Sales Tax Act. Sales tax was 16 per cent at the most while only two per cent on leather or surgical products.
Under this law, any department or private entity is bound to deposit sales tax upon making payment to any contractor for availing services. And those registered with the PRA would pay reduced tax and enjoy facilities.
He said that those availing services of hotels, motels, marriage halls, beauty parlours, caterers, decorators, clubs, should seek bill and proof of tax payment. GIZ team leader and lead advisor said that GIZ was extending support to partner countries on social, political and economic development. In Pakistan, GIZ extended cooperation on local governments and women rights, sales tax recovery in Punjab, awareness among functionaries and making access of people easy to statistics that were regularly compiled by the government.
