Small traders and industrialists on Wednesday warned the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) of protests, if it failed to change the 'disputed' conditions in the income tax form for 2011-12 in line with the businessmen community's demands. Talking to Business Recorder, Chairman All Karachi Tajir Ittehad (AKTI) Atiq Mir said, "traders in a meeting held on Tuesday decided not to file tax returns if the disputed conditions are not omitted."
He said if the FBR had kept any of the amended conditions in the tax form, the traders would not submit their returns and protest against anti-business tax policy. He, however, said traders would support the business friendly tax policy of FBR. He said if FBR did not extend the tax return filling date, the traders associations would "burn" income tax forms on November 22, 2011 in front of the Income Tax Building. They said the protest against the tax policy would continue till the FBR restored the previous mode of filing returns.
He demanded of the government to introduce plans to help the financially weak traders with attractive tax policies so that the government's annual revenue could also increase. Mir also urged the FBR to avoid new experiments on the traders who were already in the tax net. He said such new initiatives would have negative impact on the existing tax collection system, adding the FBR should first widen the tax base then introduce such policies. He said the traders would not refrain from getting violent in order to stop the tax recovery teams in the markets. "Committees have been formed to stop the tax recovery teams from entering markets," he said.