CMAP's post-budget seminar: speakers term federal budget 'arithmetical error'

Speakers at a post-budget seminar on Monday termed the federal budget 2013-14 as arithmetical error that would badly hit common man. The post-budget seminar was organised by Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Pakistan (ICMAP) at a local hotel here.
Speakers were Shabbar Zaidi, Abdul Qadir Memon, Syed Hammad Raza, Shahmam Ahmed, Abdul Wasey Khan and others. They said that Budget 2013-14 was an arithmetical error and urged the authority to rectify the same in finance bill. They said that further tax would not be applicable in third schedule and termed it as illogical. Speakers said that further tax would not create positive impact on revenue collection but provide lucrative opportunity to unscrupulous elements in tax departments and tax evaders, besides promoting flying invoice culture.
They said that distortion of third schedule must be removed to make budget friendly for businesses. They further said that increase in sales tax rate to 17 percent would reduce revenue collection as 17 percent tax at import stage was refundable and as per past experience, the revenue body would give refunds more than collection. They said that if the authority was unable to collect sales tax from retailers and wholesalers, the sales tax would be imposed on production at normal mode at the rate of 7.5 percent under final tax regime.
They said that agriculturists, retailers, realtors, doctors, engineers and transporters could only be brought into tax net, if the authority did not introduce further amnesty schemes in future. Presiding over the seminar, Chief Commissioner, Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU), Karachi, Rehmatullah Wazir said that budget was presented in a very short time and added that lacunas in budget 2013-14 that were highlighted by the speakers, would hopefully be removed.