A meeting of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) was held on Tuesday with Member Inland Operations , Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) , Muhammad Raza Baqir to discuss controversial SRO 154(i)/2013 dated 28-02-2013; SRO 140(i)/2013 dated 26-02-2013, SRO 212(1) 2013 recently issued by FBR. Muhammad Raza Baqir said that he will discuss the issue of SROs with upcoming caretaker government and apprises them about the concern of business community on SROs.
He said that he will try and convince the government which may withdraw the controversial statutory regulatory order (SRO). He advised business community to send him proposals to persuade government to withdraw these SROs and way to generate revenue. He was optimistic that the government may decided to withdraw the SRO, keeping in view the difficulties of the business community, adding that the government understands that the private sector is the backbone of the economy and it should be facilitated at every step. KCCI President, Mohammad Haroon Agar emphasised the need of withdrawing all the controversial SRO without delay.
He alleged that FBR has deliberately taken only those persons on board who are selling their goods to the unregistered persons while preparing SROs. He further said that not a single person from registered sector and from this biggest chamber of the country was taken on board while the SRO was under discussion for preparing and issuing. The KCCI members accused the FBR officials of discouraging those who are registered with sales tax and are encouraging un-registered persons to promote corruption in the entire taxation system. Such SROs would also promote undocumented economy, they said.
The participants were critical of government policies and said that it seems that a deliberate attempt was being made to destroy the export-oriented industry. They complained that the government, instead of facilitating export-oriented industry to keep it competitive in the world market, is discouraging them and putting unnecessary burden.
They expressed that the SRO will benefit unregistered people and said that the government was giving too much importance to the unregistered sector instead of registered sector which earn huge foreign exchange for the country. They said that the government penalised registered sector by imposing tax. Imposing sales tax and later refunding the same is clearly a tool for opening doors of corruption, they claimed.
They threatened that all the five export-oriented industries may to go on a strike if government fails to withdraw three controversial SROs. They said that they are against SRO culture because it does not only promote corruption, but also gives a message that some sort of underhand dealing had taken place between FBR officials and beneficiaries.