All Pakistan Traders Association on Friday called for a country wide protest against withholding tax on August 1. According to a unanimous decision at a conference of All Pakistan Traders Association, government is not paying attention to the appeals of traders for withdrawing withholding tax for which it is issuing a shutterdown call. In this perspective Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar has rightly jumped in and held meeting with the Tax collectors and business leaders and we are sure that he has the charm and required negotiating skill to convince the two sides for a reasonable settlement. The question that now comes to mind is why are traders protesting against the withholding tax on banking transactions after earlier agreeing to come under the tax net? Why are traders the only group opposing the withholding tax so vehemently? Why do they not want to file their tax returns? Traders have upped their protests against the withholding tax because they have been encouraged by elements within the ruling party supporting them in their demands in a bid to win votes come election time. The business community has been the most vocal on this issue because it conducts transactions valued at over Rs50,000 in a single day a lot more than other citizens. Coming to the issue of their unwillingness to file tax returns, the reason lies in traders being able to get away with under-declaring their incomes, not declaring their assets that have piled up over the years and evading taxes that accompany them. The argument that officials at the FBR ‘harass’ them may be true, but it in no way justifies remaining outside the tax net for years. The government has a promise to keep to the IMF. It has to show that it has taken measures to reform the tax system and increased revenue collection. It is worth mentioning that Currently less than one percent of Pakistanis pay income tax and the government collected just $8 billion in total income tax in the 2013-14 fiscal year. We need to increase the tax net, consolidate our economic gains of the past two years and move towards the goal of economic prosperity and for this purpose every one will have to contribute his bit. We have been emphasising and support Ishaq Dar who has been urging the political parties to unite on the Charter of Economy like the Charter of Democracy, the PML-N entered with the PPP, as economy has to be regulated in any case to address our multifaceted problems.
pk.shafaqna.com
