Traders suggest additional budget to FBR

ISLAMABAD: Veteran trade leader Jahangir Akhtar on Monday said bitter pill of

the budget is in the national interest. He said that opposition and business community is opposing budget but not forwarding any resolution for the problems.

Talking to the reporters on the first day of his hunger strike, Jahangir Akhtar said that the business community has enjoyed tax relaxations for decades and now they should discharge national obligation lest their unwillingness leave country bankrupt.

He said that the survival of businesses of traders and industrialists is linked to the survival of Pakistan and the businessmen should think about the country and how to serve it in difficult times.

The business leaders said that incumbent government is not responsible for foreign loans worth $100 billion or other liabilities as it was the mismanagement of former rulers. Akhtar said that the affluent must come forward to relieve the country of the problems; otherwise, our coming generations will pay the debts.

The business community should decide that they would pay taxes needed to bail out the country and they would discourage bribery, he demanded. He noted that FPCCI, chambers of commerce and 99 percent of trade associations have been hijacked by those who will never support the government’s initiative to widen the tax net. The FBR should be empowered with additional budget so that tax cheats could be brought to the book, he demanded.