The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry has urged the government to reduce the number of taxes, change the mode of payments and devise a mechanism for the payment of refunds.
LCCI President Almas Hyder in a statement on Wednesday said these measures are much needed to relieve the pressures from the businesses. Pakistan stands at a mind-disturbing position of 173rd in the international ranking of paying taxes. According to the World Bank Report, Pakistani businessmen pay 47 taxes in a year as compared to Hong Kong 3, UAE 4, Ireland 9, Malaysia 8, India 13 and Sri Lanka 36 and these are those countries Pakistan has to compete with, he added.
While giving a break-up, Almas Hyder said that one company, operating on four provinces in Pakistan, makes 5 payments of corporate Income Tax in a year, 12 payments of Employer paid-Pension Contributions, 12 payments of Social Security contribution, 1 payment of Education Cess, 1 payment of property tax, 1 payment of professional tax, 1 payment of vehicle tax, 1 payment of stamp duty, 1 payment of fuel tax and 12 payments of goods and sales tax.
The taxes are a must to run the affairs of the government but these should be imposed according to the ground realities, he said and demanded that monthly frequency of tax payments related to Employs Old Age Benefit Intuition (EOBI) and Punjab Employees Social Security Institution (PESSI) and provincial sales tax must be reduced to once a year.
He said that professional and property tax should be clubbed together. Likewise, federal and provincial sales tax should also be clubbed together. All tax payments should be accepted through credit card, debit card, direct debit or using internet/mobile banking, he suggested.
The LCCI president also proposed that refunds ranging from Rs 10 million to Rs 50 million should be instantly released while all the backlog of refunds should be cleared within two months upon the filing of returns. He said that electronic filing and online payment should be made mandatory for all departments. Risk-management system should be improved to reduce the number of physical audits, he added.
Almas Hyder said that implementation of these measures by the government will not only reduce the burden on existing taxpayers but will also encourage new taxpayers to come into the tax net besides improving Pakistan's international ranking in paying taxes.
Comments
Comments are closed.