Real estate agents demand taxes withdrawal

PESHAWAR: Peshawar Property Association has expressed concern over the imposition of taxes on real estate and builders and urged the government to take back the decision.

Speaking at a news conference at Peshawar Press Club on Monday, Sirajul Haq Yousafzai, president of the association, Jaffar Khan and others office-bearers warned the government to stage a sit-in outside the Parliament House in Islamabad if their demands were not accepted.

Terming the imposition of a five per cent tax on property as unjust, Sirajul Haq rejected this anti-people act and said the Federal Board of Revenue policy on the annual rent from plots was not applicable.

Commenting on the widely circulated statement of the Federal Minister for Finance Miftah Ismail on social media that he was bringing the real state and car dealers under the tax net, he said he did not know that they were already paying tax.

Sirajul Haq Yousafzai said that all real estate agents in Pakistan were registered in the FBR and regularly paid annual tax.He also ridiculed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s statement that he would sell his clothes for a solution to people’s problems.

Sirajul Haq Yousafzai asked the prime minister to withdraw the decision or else they would stage a sit-in outside the Parliament House to force the government to withdraw the cruel decision.

Later, the members and office-bearers of the Peshawar Property Association held a protest outside Peshawar Press Club to press the government for the acceptance of their demands. They were carrying banners and placards and chanted slogans against the government.The speakers said the rulers were least bothered about solving people’s problems but interested to prolong their own stay in the corridors of power.