Traders, businessmen observe strike; threaten sit-ins

LAHORE: Traders and business community in major cities across the country, who had shutdown their business on Wednesday to protest 0.03 percent withholding tax on bank transactions, said they would continue their protests until the government gave in.
They threatened to block roads and highways, stage sit-ins, traders’ conventions, and an All Parties Conference (APC) to garner support for their cause.
Earlier, the trader and business community alliance had already announced a long march towards Islamabad and invited the political parties to join them.
They also announced to besiege the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) regional offices and headquarter in the future course of protests, while the final show down with the FBR and government will start after Eid-ul-Azha, they said. The traders have also announced to go on an indefinite strike in October, if their demands were not met.
These announcements were made by various traders and business community factions on Wednesday, while addressing the protesters in different markets as well as press conferences after the strike.
All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajiran Secretary General Naeem Mir said that the traders will hand over the keys of their shops and businesses to the FBR chairman to run these businesses and take the charge of FBR with them. So the FBR knows what hurdles it has been creating for the business and traders’ community of Pakistan, he said.
Mir claimed the FBR was advertising the false impression that the traders were tax evaders. He said that every taxpayer gives 30 percent of his refund money to the FBR as bribe to get back his money from the revenue board. He believed that the FBR itself did not want to correct the tax system.
He said though the blocking of roads and highways will create problems for the commuters, “the current government understood only the language of protests”. He said withholding tax on banking transactions is a national issue not just a

problem for the traders.
Progressive and Lahore Businessmen Front Alliance (PLBFA) information secretary Ejaz Tanveer said that the government should resolve the issue through negotiation to deter the traders from more strikes. The reviving economy could not sustain such strikes and rigid attitude of the FBR was annoying even the documented and taxpaying business community, he added.
The Anjuman-e-Tajiran general secretary suggested expanding the tax base instead of putting more burdens on the existing taxpayers. He congratulated the traders and business community on Wednesday’s successful strike and suggested the FBR to avert further locking horns with them.
He said the results of forceful implementation of the law are now visible to the FBR as well as government. So, the only solution is to take the stakeholders and business community on board before taking such decisions, he said.
He said that businessmen have already started to withdraw their capital from the banks and were using parallel resources.
Meanwhile, the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) termed the large-scale strike against withholding tax on bank transactions an eye-opener for the policy makers and demanded the government to withdraw this unjustified tax immediately.
LCCI Vice President Syed Mahmood Ghaznavi said that the one-day strike has caused loss of billion rupees to the national economy and the situation would be aggravated further if the government doesn’t withdraw this tax immediately. The strike would be a big blow to the national economy that is already facing various internal and external challenges.
“Strike of traders would not only cause hardship to the businesses but government would also be the ultimate loser as far as revenue collection is concerned,” the LCCI office bearer added.
Wednesday’s strike virtually brought the trade and economic activities to a halt, which not only hit the exports but also the slowed down the industrial wheel.
Shahid Shah from Karachi adds: Major markets of the city, including Jodia Bazaar remained closed on Wednesday in protest against imposition of withholding tax on bank transactions.
Government has imposed 0.6 percent withholding tax on the transactions of Rs50,000 or above in a single day on non-filers. Small traders in the country have been opposing it since its announcement.
Of the 850 markets in the city, around 650 remained closed. “It is one the most successful strikes in the city and in the country,” Atiq Mir, chairman of the All Karachi Tajir Ittehad, told The News.
He said it was the third countrywide strike against the imposition of the withholding tax and those strikes cost a loss of Rs50 billion to the traders.
Mir said that all the traders demand withdrawal of withholding tax. “This is not acceptable,” he said. “Even independent analysts have rejected this tax. Nobody is accepting this tax.”
“Nobody from the government contacted me or the central leaders in Punjab, but I am sure they will,” Mir said. He warned of more protests if the tax was not withdrawn.
Mir said that because of the controversial tax, the traders had withdrawn Rs800 billion from banks.
The FBR chairman and the finance minister were responsible for the losses to the traders and the country, he said.
Farid Qureshi, secretary general of the Karachi Retail Grocers Association, said those shops which sold food items remained open in the city, while other markets were closed.
At least 10 different delegations of exporters are meeting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday. Head of the groups and Trade Development Authority of Pakistan Chief Executive SM Muneer told The News that they would also raise the issue of small traders with the prime minister along with their agenda related to exports.
Mir said that the exporters had failed to convince Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on the issue, but they expect the prime minister might understand their point.
Ismail Lalpuri, general secretary of the Sindh Tajir Ittehad, said all the groups were united on that issue and complete strike was observed in the country.
“This is the first time in Karachi that the markets remained shut till evening, earlier they used to open at 2:00pm or 3:00pm,” he said.
Lalpuri said if the controversial tax was not withdrawn, the traders would go on strike for an indefinite period starting from October 7.