SIALKOT City News

Sialkot industrialists, exporters decry
sales tax increase proposal
From Our Correspondent
SIALKOT: Industrialists and exporters of Sialkot Wednesday criticised the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR)’s proposal to increase sales tax ratio from 2 to 5 per cent under SRO 1125 in the upcoming budget.
Addressing a press conference at the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), SCCI president Fazal Jilani said industrialists and exporters of Sialkot would shut their factories and take to the streets if the government implemented the proposal.
Vice Presidents Malik Naseer and Mir Alamgir Meyer, Chairman Sialkot Dry Port Trust Kh Khawer Anwar, Chairman Surgical Manufacturers Association Tahir Ishfaq, Chairman Gloves Manufacturers Association Muhammad Younas, Chairman Leather Goods Manufacturers Association Syed Ahtesham Gilani, Qaisar Baig, Haji Tariq Hussain and others were also present. Jilani urged the government to take steps to protect interests of industrialists and exporters, saying that the business community was already facing difficulties due to shortage of power and gas. He said billions of rupees of industrialists and exporters had already been withheld by the government as sales tax refunds.
Jilani said Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif during his visit the SCCI had urged Sialkot-based industrialists and exporters to increase their exports but the goal of increasing exports could never be achieved under the present anti-export and non-cooperative attitude of the top bureaucrats of the FBR.
He said exports of smaller countries like Vietnam and Bangladesh had experienced five to six time increase in their national exports during the last 12 years, basically due to the effective policies of their governments and lesser bureaucratic hurdles, but quite ironically the exports of Pakistan reduced by $ 1 billion in the same period because of the poor policies on the part of different governments.
He said the government should formulate policies after thorough consultations with relevant industrialists and exporters instead of following the proposals of unaware, indifferent and selfish bureaucrats. Khawaja Khawar Anwar, Tahir Ishfaq, Syed Ahtesham Gilani, Muhammad Younas, Qaisar Baig and others also spoke.