LCCI urges govt to adopt budget proposals aimed at growth, reform

LAHORE: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has expressed hope that its budget proposals will be incorporated by the government in the forthcoming fiscal plan. To address prevailing economic challenges, the LCCI has proposed a set of strategic measures. On the tariff front, it advocates for a cascading duty structure: zero per cent on raw materials, 5 per cent to 8 per cent on intermediate goods, and 18 per cent on finished products, in a bid to encourage local value addition.

In terms of policy reforms, the LCCI has emphasised the need to reduce the policy interest rate to 6.0 per cent. It has also proposed introducing a fixed tax regime for traders to help broaden the tax base, while capping taxes on individuals and associations at 29 per cent.

The chamber has called for full digitisation of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to minimise human intervention and reduce corruption. It further urged the government to expedite tax refunds, recommending that the FASTER system process them within 72 hours, with compensation for any delays.

To support the IT and freelancing sector, the LCCI has proposed allowing foreign exchange accounts and offering rebates to IT exporters to counter capital flight. In the agriculture sector, it has called for a progressive income tax on large landholdings, while exempting small-scale farmers.

In real estate, the chamber has advised aligning property valuations with market rates to document hidden wealth. For the textile industry, it recommended reinstating the Drawback of Local Taxes and Levies (DLTL) scheme and increasing duty drawbacks to 3.0 per cent.