ICCI urges govt to undertake business friendly tax measures

October 08, 2018: Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) has urged the government to take business friendly tax reform measures to broaden the tax base so that taxpayers willingly come forward to pay tax and ensure voluntary compliance of tax laws.

ICCI President Ahmed Hassan Moughal has said that the prevailing complex tax system is a major hurdle in expanding the tax net, therefore, a simple tax system with low tax rates and low compliance cost is needed to enhance the tax revenue of the country.

In an effort to widen the tax net and ensure tax compliance across the country, the government has initiated a massive drive for the recovery of taxes from big and influential tax evaders, he said.

He said that if FBR has authentic information regarding any genuine tax evading businessman, the department should first take the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the respective region on board so that instead of taking any harsh measures, genuine tax evaders could be brought into the tax net with mutual efforts.

He urged the government to develop a tax system that could encourage people to pay tax rather than evading it.

He said the high tax rates in the country were also promoting the culture of tax evasion and government should revise tax rates to make them affordable for taxpayers.

He also asked for making the current tax system fair as currently, industry was paying highest tax to the national exchequer while the share of agriculture and services sectors was quite low as compared to their share to the GDP.

He emphasized that the government should take measures to remove such distortions from the taxation system to make it equal and fair for all sectors of the economy.

(APP)