Builders reject proposed amnesty scheme

Say industry conducts business transparently, wants to pay due taxes

ISLAMABAD: The Association of Builders and Developers of Pakistan (ABAD) has rejected the amnesty scheme proposed for the construction industry, stating the association has never sought such a concession and will not need it as the business is mostly transparent.

Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, ABAD Patron-in-chief Mohsin Sheikhani said the builders and developers were carrying out their business and were working hard for the betterment of country’s economy.



“The federal government should support the construction industry instead of creating hurdles in the way of its growth,” he said. “We want to pay taxes according to the law.”

Sheikhani pointed out that the government had raised the issue of black money at a time when the construction industry was booming.

“The government should have addressed the matter earlier,” he said, cautioning any wrong step would trigger flight of capital from Pakistan, which would be detrimental to the economy.

ABAD Senior Vice Chairman Arif Jeewa insisted that the construction industry had never asked for an amnesty. Instead, he said, ABAD had always promoted tax culture and it was the organisation that had given the idea of fixing the tax on the construction industry as there was not a proper mechanism.



“We worked for almost four months with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to fix the tax system and we are grateful to the government that it has accepted our demand of a fixed tax and included it in the federal budget for 2016-17.”



He said more than Rs3,000 billion were parked in the country but due to the government’s wrong steps investors were hesitant to disclose the wealth. He demanded that the government give a viable way so that the parked money could be part of the national economy.

He also asked the government to abolish the property transfer tax imposed on the tax filers and increase the tax up to 3% for the non-filers of tax returns.

ABAD Expo-2016 Committee Convener Haris Ali Mithani briefed the media about the upcoming exhibition which would be held from August 12 to 14 in Karachi and said the show would create a new history of exhibitions in the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 24^th, 2016.

Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.