Traders hail govt’s decision to present tax free budget

Islamabad : The business community of Islamabad has welcomed the announcement of a tax free budget for the fiscal year 2020-2021 by the federal government.

Ajmal Baloch, President All Pakistan Traders Association and Traders Action Committee Islamabad. Secretary Khalid Mehmood Chaudhry, Malik Rabinwaz, Shehzad Abbasi, Abdul Rehman Siddiqui, Syed Altaf Hussain Shah, Yousuf Rajput, Chaudhry Aftab, Zafar Iqbal Gujjar, Chaudhry Ghaffar, Raja Khurram Niaz, Chaudhry Irfan, Raja Javed, Raja Shahid, Chaudhry Reyast Ali, Raja Ambassador, Iftikhar Abbasi, Chaudhry Shafiq, Zahid Hussain, Muhammad Fayyaz and Mehboob Khan attended a meeting via video link.

The meeting approved proposals from businessmen for the federal budget. Expressing his views on the occasion, Ajmal Baloch said that Finance Advisor Hafeez Sheikh has announced that the next budget will be tax free which is appreciated by the business community and it is a good government decision because in the last three months Pakistan Has suffered a lot economically, the economy has shrunk, the business of traders is on the verge of collapse. Under these circumstances, traders cannot afford any kind of tax. Various packages were announced by the government but there was no benefit other than the concession given in the electricity bill. The lockdown continues in the country and the government is warning that there will be more hardships in the future. He urged the FBR officials not to think too harshly.

Khalid Mehmood Chau­dhry, Secretary, Traders Action Committee, Islamabad, said that the FBR should accept the cases of total audit and withdraw the notices issued. The decision to install point-of-sale devices on large business units should be postponed for the time being as the business is 60% closed. He further said that the economy is shrinking and the economic situation will not improve in the future.