‘FBR moving in wrong direction’

LAHORE: Former secretary of the Lahore Tax Bar Association (LTBA) M Aamir Qadeer has said that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is also moving in the wrong direction by following the International Monetary Fund (IMF) diktat that is badly affecting trade and business activities.

Talking to a group of tax experts, he said that instead of focusing attention on ineffective online systems, the FBR officials are using negative tactics to meet their revenue targets.

The FBR is evolving policy without due consultation with the stakeholders, he said, adding that the policies cannot be fruitful without taking stakeholders on board.

He urged federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to immediately stop the FBR from this practice that is pushing the taxpayers to the wall, besides denting the reputation of a business-friendly government.

Instead of changing the faces, the government change policies towards trade, industry and the masses, as change of team cannot help enhance the government’s revenue, he said.

Qadeer said that the policymakers are considering to issue one page tax return form, which would not be doing any service to expand the tax net.

He demanded the Federal Board of Revenue to evolve policies in consultation with the stakeholders and avoid imposing new taxes on the people who were already in the tax net.  The untaxed sectors should be brought into the tax net, he added.