Govt urged to consider ‘one tax, one nation’ regime

Islamabad: Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) President Khalid Iqbal Malik has called upon the government to consider one tax one nation regime by introducing a single national sales tax that would help in streamlining tax system and improving tax revenue of the country.

He said that under the current sales tax regime, businesses have to pay multiple sales tax  i.e. at federal and provincial levels due to which the cost of doing business has gone up. He said the introduction of a single national sales tax structure would bring multiple benefits to the economy as it would improve the ease of doing business, make Pakistan an integrated economy and facilitate the seamless transfer of goods and services across the country.

Khalid Malik, senior vice president of ICCI said that the prime benefit of one tax structure is that Pakistan would become a common market as one product or service will have a single tax rate in any part of the country instead of multiplicity of taxes on the same commodity or service in various parts of the country. It would also create a level playing field for local companies in export markets.

Tahir Ayub, vice president of ICCI said that introduction of a national sales tax regime will also facilitate the better growth business activities as trade and industry will have a much lesser compliance burden compared with the current sales tax regime in which they have to file different returns with federal and provincial tax authorities. It will also provide a complete level playing field to domestic manufacturers vis-à-vis imported goods.