Business community unhappy

FPCCI disapproves of the RGST and urges the government to take the business community into confidence.

KARACHI: The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) has disapproved of the reformed general sales tax (RGST) and urged the government to take the business community into confidence before passing the bill in the National Assembly.

Addressing a press conference on Monday, FPCCI President Sultan Chawla said: “The RGST bill in its current form is not acceptable to the business community.”

SM Muneer, the patron-in-chief of Korangi Association of Trade and Industry, also said that the RGST is unacceptable to business community. “We, from the platform of FPCCI, reject RGST bill,” he said.

Business leaders criticised the finance minister for tabling the RGST bill without consulting entrepreneurs. “Had he consulted us, we would have helped him make it acceptable to all stakeholders,” said Tariq Saeed, the president of SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Chawla urged Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh to immediately meet the leaders of business community to discover their grievances about RGST.

Chawla advised the government to not slap new taxes on current taxpayers and instead include sectors that are not in the tax net as of now. “Why doesn’t the government tax agricultural and real estate income? Why does the government keep on burdening existing taxpayers?” he asked.

Business owners also underlined the need of improving the uneven taxation structure in the country. “Even if the government successfully brings in the RGST, the financial woes of the country are not going to end. Our problems can end only when we all start paying taxes,” Chawla added.

He asked the government to not beg the IMF for the next loan tranche but talk to the business community inside and outside Pakistan to help double remittances.

“We can go to the US, the UK and the Middle East and ask overseas Pakistanis to double their remittances to $16 billion. We are confident that we can convince them,” he added.

The government can save at least Rs500 billion annually just by improving the surveillance system and customs procedure at the Afghan border, they suggested.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 16^th, 2010.