President of Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI) Danish Khan has said that economic condition of the country cannot stabilise without increasing tax-to-GDP ratio to at least 17 percent. He expressed these views, speaking at a ceremony where he paid tribute to the KATI members who are included in the top 100 taxpayers of Pakistan.
Danish expressed concern that only few hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis pay tax that makes hardly one percent of the total population. He referred to a clause in currently approved economic reforms that label a filer as non-filer for the whole year on delay of even a day behind deadline in submitting returns. He and other industrialist at the ceremony declared that clause unjustifiable and demanded to remove it as soon as possible.
FPCCI president Engr Daro Khan Achakzai also expressed concern over current behaviour of tax regime for business community. He called for adopting a resolution to condemn harassment of business community under any pretext.
He lauded top taxpayers and announced to arrange a ceremony to honour all such people. Ex-president of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) S.M Muneer praised highest taxpaying industrialists and called them 'mohsin' of the nation.
He said Prime Minister Khan set an example to appreciate the top taxpayers of the country and this is a great honour for KATI that at least 12 of them belong to the association. He expressed concern over harassment of businessmen by tax officials and appealed to the Prime Minister to take immediate notice of it.
The guest of honour of the ceremony Sardar Yasin Malik spoke on his struggle to get success in business and urged that honesty and hard work is the only key to success.
"If we will pay tax with honesty, not only our country will be strengthened, our businesses too will flourish," he said. Ibrahim Qasim said he wished bureaucracy should also follow suit after Prime Minister Imran Khan honoured tax paying people in a befitting manner.
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