Businessmen oppose new taxes

Pakistan Business Council calls for long-term measures.

KARACHI:

Pakistan Business Council (PBC) Chief Executive Kamran Mirza has said that businessmen are not against government taxes, but have reservations about the way these are implemented.

PBC, which represents approximately 32 top multinational firms of Pakistan, held a meeting on Thursday to discuss a strategy in the wake of presidential ordinances which imposed a 15 per cent flood surcharge on corporate companies and salaried class. Furthermore, several zero-rated sectors were brought into the tax net with a levy of 17 per cent tax on domestic sales.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Mirza said, “we have an issue with the ad hoc measures the government takes time and again and it is high time they take long-term measures to stabilise the economy.”

He said that the government tactic of making decisions and then reversing them was also a cause of embarrassment for the nation. “Well thought-out policies need to be made now,” he stated.

Mirza was of the opinion that the government should widen the tax base rather than taxing the already taxed people.

He said that businessmen and traders were in agreement over a gradual introduction of taxes on them, therefore imposition of 17 per cent duty in one go was a huge additional burden to bear.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 18^th, 2011.