Traders threaten to boycott budget

LAHORE: Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on Friday warned that businessmen would reject the upcoming budget if funds were not allocated for immediate clearance of Rs280 billion refunds.

“The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) takes businesses to task over trivial matters but remains unmoved when it comes to the issue of their genuine refunds,” Abdul Basit, the president of the LCCI, told a press conference. 

“It’s time the government cleared the dues that rightfully belonged to cash-starved businessmen forthwith. No delays will be tolerated henceforth.”  Basit, who was flanked by other chamber officials, said it was heartening to note that the Senate Committee on Finance, Revenue, Economics Affairs, Statistics, and Privatization has barred the FBR officials from raiding the premises of taxpaying enterprises without a written permission undersigned by the chairman or a member of the board. 

“The raids are unfortunate because they are publicised through media, tarnishing the image of firms even before the confiscated records were scrutinized,” the LCCI head said.    Basit suggested that instead of raids, the government should audit 20 percent taxpayers every year so that all taxpayers undergo audit every five years and bring more and more non-filers into the tax net. 

Speaking on the occasion, Amjad Ali Jawa, senior vice president LCCI, drew the attention towards double taxation issue.  “All upcountry importers pay 1.05 percent infrastructure development cess to Sindh government, while importers from Punjab pay only 0.9 percent to their provincial government,” Jawa said.  He pointed out that importers from Punjab use the infrastructure of Karachi Port Trust, National Highway and Railways for transporting their goods upcountry.  The LCCI official said all these institutions fall under federal government, thus Sindh government has no right to demand this tax from upcountry importers.