The Reformed General Sales Tax (RGST) was detrimental and fatal for the business promotion and the trading community of the country would strongly oppose and resist in case the government tried to clamp this unwarranted tax arbitrarily.
This was stated by Syed Fahim Mehmood Shah, Chairman, Pakistan Yarn Merchants Association (PYMA) while addressing a hurriedly called meeting of the executive committee members. He said that the imposition of Reformed General Sales Tax was a controversial tax and it should be deferred till the improvement of deteriorating economy of the country and bringing down the banks mark-up and inflation rate to 7-8 percent.
PYMA chairman said that due to prolonged and un-scheduled load shedding and gas shut out, hundreds of industrial units, especially those engaged in textile processing and finishing mills have been closed down in the country, rendering lakh of wage-earners jobless.
He further said that the people are already groaning under skyrocketing prices of consumer goods and, in case, the RGST is levied, it would further aggravate the situation. Syed Fahim Mehmood Shah said that due to low industrial production because of shortfall of gas and electricity, our exporters would not be in a position to honour their commitments with foreign buyers by in time exports, hence Pakistani exporters would not be capable to compete in the global market, which would ultimately be fetched by our contemporary countries, like India, Sri Lanka and China.
PYMA Chairman urged the government to first bring the inflation and banks mark-up to single digit and ensure uninterrupted power and gas supply to export-oriented industries on cheaper rates. He criticised the exorbitant banks mark-up at 16 to 18 percent ratio and urged the Central Bank of Pakistan to issue appropriate orders for bringing it down to lowest ebb to help promote the trade and industry in the country.
Shah appealed to Punjab Chief Minister, Shahbaz Sharif, to exert his influence so that the Punjab Assembly should not pass the levy of RGST. He appreciated the motive of MQM leader, Altaf Hussain and parliamentary leader Farooq Sattar for taking a solid stand and opposing the imposition of Reformed General Sales Tax.
Later, the PYMA Executive Committee passed a Resolution unanimously, demanding therein that the RGST should not be levied till significant and visible improvement of the country's economy because the levy of this sales tax would put a negative impact on our economy.