‘Country cannot afford chaos with economic challenges’

MULTAN: The Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry members on Monday urged the government to accept the genuine demands of protesting traders.

In a statement issued here, MCCI acting president Khawaja Badar Munir and vice-president Sheikh Muhammad Amjad said that the the country could not afford chaos, anarchy and instability in the prevailing economic challenges. They said that no country could achieve economic goals unless the government took the business community on board and consult all other stakeholders. They said that the government must implement the MCCI proposal of fixed taxation under A, B, C and D categories as being implemented in Islamabad. The MCCI office-bearers mentioned that abolition of zero-rating facility had created numerous problems for the export sector so the government must review this decision. They said that the FBR was reportedly working in collaboration with provinces to introduce a single tax portal for taxpayers to file their sales tax returns of goods and services at one platform, which was a laudable initiative as it would greatly facilitate them in filing sales tax returns and reduce the cost of doing business. The move would also contribute towards improving ease of doing business in the country, they added.

They said that under the current sales tax regime, businesses were facing difficulties in filing sales tax returns of goods and services as they had to file returns of goods at federal and that of services at provincial level. They said that under the current sales tax regime, filers were also facing double taxation as some provinces were taxing a service at the place of origin while the same service was also being taxed at the place of destination in another province. Therefore, the FBR should work on this issue to minimise the chances of double taxation, they demanded.