MULTAN, : Malik Asrar Ahmed Awan,President
, Begum Romana Tanvir Sheikh Senior Vice President and Khawaja Muhammad Farooq
Vice President of the Multan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI) have
urged the National Assembly not to pass federal budget 2018-19 until and unless
necessary amendments and rectifications are made. “Major obstacles for business
community like withholding tax on banking transactions should not be the part
of federal budget 2018-19 otherwise these would eat up the outcomes of good
initiatives,” they said.
The MCCI office bearers said that withholding tax
on banking transactions is “extortion” as it is being collected forcefully
without keeping in view the agonies of the business community. He said that
budget is to be presented in the National Assembly for debate and approval. It
is a premier chance for the members of National Assembly to remove the menace
of withholding tax on banking transactions and win the hearts of the business
community.
They said
that imposition of withholding tax on banking transactions was an illogical
step more than a dual taxation as business community is already paying income
tax, sales tax and various other duties and taxes imposed by the federal and
provincial governments. He said that withholding tax on banking transactions is
doing more harm than good and continuously affecting the business atmosphere in
the country.
“Issue of withholding tax is top of the list in
the other miseries like disparity in taxation system, dual taxation, high input
cost and delay in refunds that must be resolved according to the demand of the
business community,” the MCCI office-bearers said here today. They said that
business community has rejected withholding tax on banking transactions from
the first day but concerned authorities are not ready to realize the ground
realities.
Malik Asrar Ahmed Awan said that though expansion
of tax net is need of the hour but government would have to find out new ways
to bring the untaxed sectors into the tax net. He said that measures like
imposition of withholding tax on bank transactions are not doing any service to
the economy as it has been observed that tax collection machinery has no
authentic data to specify difference between filers and non-filers.
The MCCI president said that tax on all bank
transactions has been imposed forcefully, that is not only hampering the trade
and economic activities but is also tarnishing the soft image of the
government. He said that a number of trade & industrial associations have
approached to the MCCI and informed that imposition of tax on all banking
transactions has caused unrest and put the interests of business community on
stake.
They said that imposition of this tax has forced
business community to conduct its monetary transactions in cash that is
promoting undocumented economy. The MCCI office-bearers hoped that withholding
tax on banking transactions will be withdrawn immediately in the larger
interest of the industry, trade and economy.