Government must immediately withdraw 10 percent withholding tax on prizes of Prize Bond scheme and overall returns on the Scheme should be brought at par with other savings schemes offered by the government, industry analysts demanded.
The analysts say that government should regularise secondary market of Prize Bond by issuing licenses to Prize Bond dealers. This will not only enable the government to be in an ideal position to generate the desired funds in the local as well as foreign currency at the cheapest cost but also to collect more revenues in the form of license fees and income tax every year, says a press release.
Currently Prize Bonds bought 60 days prior to the draw date are eligible to participate in the draw, they said adding that this eligibility criterion should be reduced to 30 days so that maximum people could reap the benefits of Prize Bond Scheme, the release said.
"In order to increase the participation of masses in Prize Bond scheme, the number of small prizes should be increased by decreasing big prizes in the same proportion," Dr Sira Bano, Manager Administration and Public Relation of Kalia and Sons said.
Government should facilitate the overseas Pakistanis, housewives, sick and old people, special persons and children etc to claim their prizes being at their own places by reintroducing the "Power of Attorney" facility, she added.
She said that despite Prize Bond's Scheme being the only lawful source for poor and middle class people to make some handsome profit on their investment, the scheme has been unfortunately overlooked absolutely for the past several years.
Industry sources said that for stocks, debentures and other government securities, secondary market is essential to keep them alive and sharing the load of Government. Prize Bond Scheme is no exception in this connection, as it plays a vital role in pooling huge investments particularly from overseas Pakistanis.
Especially, in these inflationary conditions, in which everyone is going through the agony of high prices, Prize Bonds' Scheme is the only hope for poor provided that the government works on improving its mechanism, they added.
Sources said that if government concentrates on these issues, it will be in a better position to trim down its dependence on outside financial agencies and it can generate huge financing from its own people at most economical rates. They added that it would also ensure an anti-inflationary policy for the nation in the longer run.-PR