ISLAMABAD: Instead of introducing tax amnesty schemes to attract the non-taxpayers, the government should have simplified the existing tax systems and maintain tax-rate at minimum level so that people could voluntarily get themselves registered with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
Mardan Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Zahir Shah suggested this while giving an interview to Customs Today. He said that the current amnesty scheme was only for unregistered people but there was a need to attract the people who were keeping themselves away from the FBR due to misconceptions.
Responding to a query about the policies of the FBR, he said that some complexities in the policies creating problems for the business community, as they were not familiar with revenue methods completely.
“I want to inform the high ups of the FBR about the wrong-doing of the field formations’ staff, which make cases against the businessmen just for their vested interest,” he said, adding that most of the registered cases were won by the traders.
Business community paid taxes that were used to run state affairs so it should not be discourage by trapping them into different cases but be supported to get exceptional growth; he said and hoped that next fiscal year would prove helpful for businesses, he said.
Zahir Shah said that some chambers of commerce have announced to arrange pre-budget seminars to present their suggestions for budget of next fiscal year 2016-17, adding that the demands of businessmen have not been entrained fully.
He further said that a friendly atmosphere could bridge gap between taxpayers and FBR, he said, adding that such atmosphere could be developed by not harassing the taxpayers.
He also appreciated the current leading team of the FBR, adding that complaints against the rude behaviour of officials are reduced to some extent, but there are some black sheep at lower level those are damaging the reputation of FBR.
“I ask the department to strengthen the accountability system in order to make it more prestigious,” he said.
