Chairman of National Assembly's Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Privatisation, Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh, while assuring his Standing Committee's consideration to KCCI's recommendations in connections with budget 2016-17, advised the business and industrial community of Karachi to approach and stay in touch with the Standing Committee if they really wanted to get their issues resolved.
Qaiser Sheikh, who led a delegation of National Assembly's Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Privatisation during its visit to KCCI, said that any suggestion or recommendation being sent to the Standing Committee on Finance by KCCI will be thoroughly discussed and forwarded to the government for action.
The NA Standing Committee delegation comprised of its members including Mian Abdul Manan, Asad Umer and Rasheed Godil who were also accompanied by senior officials of the FBR during their visit to KCCI while Chairman Businessmen Group and former President KCCI Siraj Kassam Teli, Vice Chairmen BMG & former Presidents KCCI, Tahir Khaliq, Zubair Motiwala, Haroon Farooki and Anjum Nisar, President KCCI Younus Muhammad Bashir, Senior Vice President KCCI Zia Ahmed Khan, Vice President KCCI Muhammad Naeem Sharif, former SVP KCCI Muhammad Ibrahim Kasumbi, former President KCCI AQ Khalil and KCCI Managing Committee members were also present at the meeting.
Qaiser Sheikh appreciated the strict discipline being maintained at KCCI under the supervision of Siraj Kassam Teli whose Businessmen Group has been successfully winning KCCI election since last 18 years. Highlighting the authorities of National Assembly's Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics & Privatisation, Qaiser Sheikh stated that this Committee has been reactivated and it was powerful and strong enough to convince the government to pay attention to any of its recommendations.
He further advised the business and industrial community of Karachi to exhibit unity which was a must to resolve issues currently being faced by them. "The business community must also actively participate in the politics as without their participation in politics, the issues may remain unresolved. I strongly believe that at least 10 to 15 percent of the National Assembly must comprise of representatives of business and industrial community which would help in effectively raising voice for resolving issues being faced by trade and industry", he added.
On the occasion, Mian Abdul Manan Member NA's Standing Committee said, "We will surely raise voice and all issues along with reservations of the business and industrial community of Karachi will be addressed while KCCI will also be taken on board in meetings and discussions about the next budget."
Asad Umer Member NA's Standing Committee pointed out that the issue of unrealistic taxes being imposed by bureaucrats on various sectors of the economy will be taken up by the Standing Committee. He further underscored the need for introducing reforms in the FBR which would not only provide some relief to perturbed taxpayers but will also enhance the country's revenue collection. "Raising the export by $5 billion is going to be a greater achievement and it will give much better results as compared to what was being achieved by acquiring a loan of $20 billion", he added.
Rasheed Godil Member NA's Standing Committee, in his remarks, stated that Pakistan suffers badly because the attention of the government remains limited to particular cities and sectors only which should not happen. In order to ensure progress and prosperity for the country, policies should be implemented across the board while all cities and sectors should be treated on equality basis.
Siraj Kassam Teli, in his remarks, expressed disappointment over very low participation of Standing Committee members in the meeting at KCCI as out of a total of 21 members, only four members showed up at the meeting. This clearly indicates that except these four members who realise the role and integrity of business and industrial community of Karachi, the rest of the Standing Committee members were totally illiterate about the issues of trade & industry and they simply have no interest in paying any attention to these issues.
Siraj, while referring to the draconian laws imposed through the Finance Bill, recalled that soon after the announcement of first budget by the present government, KCCI approached Finance Minister Ishaq Dar who was informed that KCCI had made strenuous efforts to resist implementation of these laws during Musharraf's and PPP's governments but unfortunately the Nawaz government, upon assuming charge, reintroduced these draconian laws, resulting in intensifying the hardship of business and industrial community and leading to declining exports and revenue.
Speaking on the occasion, Vice Chairman BMG and former President KCCI, Zubair Motiwala said that the business community wants that the country must have maximum number of taxpayers, highest employment opportunities, rising exports, zero current account and trade account deficit and prosperity all over the country but all this will not happen because of the high cost of doing business in Pakistan. The current scenario was making Pakistan's exports uncompetitive and the exporters were unable to survive in many international markets which have been taken over by neighbouring countries like India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Bangladesh and China. Due to high cost of doing business, many Pakistani industrialists have shifted their businesses to Bangladesh where cost of doing business was much lower, which was the basic reason why exports have been descending, he added.
Earlier, while welcoming the guests, President KCCI Younus Muhammad Bashir stated that the government, instead of overburdening the existing taxpayers by imposing more taxes, must look for ways and means of how to enhance the tax base of the country. "It was proclaimed by the FBR that they have identified 700,000 to 800,000 tax evaders who have been living luxurious lives, owned massive properties, frequently travel abroad, their kids study in foreign universities and they use credit cards but do not contribute a single rupee to the national kitty. It has been more than 8 years now, but to date no action has been taken against such tax evaders who enjoy their lives by staying outside the tax net whereas those, who already are in the tax net, continue to face all the harassment everyday by tax authorities." He also stressed upon the need to rationalise and simplify tax procedures so that it is easy for the tax payer to assess his tax cost in advance and the victimisation and uncertainties are minimised-PR
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