The Punjab Business Symposium Tuesday demanded of the government to abolish the discretionary powers given to the FBR officials and stressed the need for improving the ease of doing business ranking. Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) President Ghanzanfar Bilour, former presidents Mian Muhammad Adrees, S M Muneer, Iftikhar Ali Malik and Vice President Ch Arfan Yousaf raised these demands while talking to media after the symposium. They expressed their concern over poor ranking in the world ease of doing business where Pakistan stands at 147th position in 190 countries.
They said one window facilitation cell should be established for industrialization, dealing with increasing trade deficit and improving ease of doing business ranking. Double taxation and withholding tax on banking transaction are the practices which promote undocumented economy, they added. They were of the view that tax amnesty scheme should also be announced for the economic growth. Tax refunds should be made as soon as possible to improve our exports. They also demanded of the government to simplify the tax return procedure to facilitate the business community.
The speakers also asked the Punjab Revenue Authority to set up help desk in every district chamber. They also urged the government to provide representation to the business and trade leaders in board of directors of the public sector organizations including Punjab Board of Investment and Trade, Trade Development Authority of Pakistan, Federal Board of Revenue and National Tariff Commission.
The purpose of symposium was get-together following the FPCCI elections and highlighting the business community concerns and opinions to the government by providing relevant suggestions for their solution. They also urged the government to take concrete measures to promote trade and industrialization besides improving the balancing of trade by enhancing exports.
Talking about the issues of business community, they said there should be specific agriculture zones for cultivation of sugarcane, rice, maize and cotton. Sugarcane cultivation on cotton belt should be discouraged. The government should understand that economy can only be strengthened by supporting industrialist. They said present government is consistently ignoring the business community and adopting non-business friendly policies whereas FBR officials are harassing the tax payers. The country's economy is falling whereas exports are persistently diminishing mainly because of high tariff and taxes. "We have unfortunately lost our textile sector exports and same situation is being noted in each sector," they maintained.
Appreciating the CPEC initiatives, the business leaders said that the local business community and Chinese investor should be provided level playing field. They also announced to organize similar symposium in every province. The speakers also stressed the need for initiating banking channel with Iran so that trade could be enhanced between the two countries. The government should provide incentives to the local businessmen for investing in feasible projects. The government needs to accelerate the process of industrialization to provide job opportunities to the country's youth to alleviate poverty.