Former vice president, Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), Mohammad Adnan Jalil has called for adoption of banking friendly policies in the annual budget for financial year 2018-19. Talking to a group of journalists regarding the upcoming national budget, the young entrepreneur demanded the uplifting of the banking sector to bring it out of the prevailing crisis like situation.
He proposed the exempting of the banking sector of the With Holding Tax and Federal Excise Duty, saying these levies are bearing highly negative impacts on the banking sector. He particularly demanded the abolition of the cash withdrawal limit of Rs 50,000.
Adnan Jalil, who is member of the Board of Directors (BoDs) of various national and provincial public sector organizations demanded cutting of the ratio of General Sales Tax (GST) to single digits and its levy on all sectors except education across the country.
He termed the SME sector as backbone of the national economy and called for the announcement of special incentives for it, He particularly demanded the training and guidance of the business community through Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA), National Vocational & Technical Training Commission (NAVTEC) and Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (TEVTA) to bring it at par with the demand oriented businesses of the 21st century.
The former vice president FPCCI was of the view that the promotion of SME sector besides generating employment opportunities will also play positive role in the economic development of the country. In the next budget, he also demanded introduction of tax holiday for the SME sector.
Regarding the promotion of the national exports, he said that the government should declare all export bound goods and services as zero-rated and their strict surveillance through Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to control leakages. He also called for the tuning of the FBR to turn it into a business community and business friendly agency of the state.
He said that presently Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has nearly 64,000 registered tax payers, which is just 6 percent of the total tax payers and stressed need for its enhancement to 15 percent through adopting a friendly environment. He was in favour of the levy of fixed tax on small and medium businesses and preparation of a strategy in this regard in consultations with traders' associations and small chambers.
Adnan Jalil demanded the constitution of all such councils on both federal and provincial levels with the consultations with chambers and associations of the provinces concerned.
The mandate of the advisory committees should be close liaison with the ministries of commerce and finance to prepare feasible and result-oriented policies to help increase the national exports and arrest financial issues. Opposing the complete handover of the SME bank, which is included in the privatization lists of the government and is likely to be privatised shortly, he demanded its delisting and merger into Ministries of Industries and Production and SMEDA.
To a question about the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Authority (KPRA), he urged it too for bringing its sales tax to single digit and launching of volunteer registration system and six month exemption for the newly registered persons. He said that after the passage of the 18th Constitutional Amendment, businessmen working in different provinces are required to get the tax number of the same revenue authority along with FBR, which is cumbersome step. Therefore, he proposed for either declaring National Identity Card (NIC) or such a tax number, which besides FBR is also acceptable to the concerned provincial revenue authority and bring uniformity in the tax number.
Adnan Jalil said that tax payers and particularly, the SMEs sector should be given special incentives like CIP/VIP status by both federal and provincial governments across the country and those showing better performance should be encouraged with conferring commendation certificates on them, He also called for the inclusion of the SME sector in decision making process and their representatives on the board of directors of all important organizations.
He also called for the complete computerisation and mechanization of the KP Revenue Authority to bring 100 percent cut in the interaction of tax auditors and other officials with the tax payers. Furthermore, he called for giving factual and possible tax targets to business community.
He also demanded the adoption of austerity to bring drastic cut in the non-development expenditures of both central and provincial governments and making the role of civil servants as positive and people-friendly to keep the doors of their offices opened for the people.
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