KARACHI: Small traders have decided to resist strongly any move of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to raid markets and business premises.
An emergent meeting of All Karachi Tajir Ittehad on Wednesday rejected enforcement plan of the tax machinery to raid markets and shopping centers for identifying new taxpayers.
“The trade community will resist strongly against any raids and all such places will be made ‘no go areas’ for FBR officials,” it is decided at the meeting.
Atiq Mir, leader of the trade community, said that the tax system of the country cannot be changed overnight.
He said that the trade community would strongly protest against the corrupt officials of the FBR. “The government is not using tax money for development but it is used for debt repayment and interest payment,” he added.
Other participants have suggested reforms in the present tax system. The present tax system is promoting corruption and giving further discretionary powers to tax officials would make the tax system more complicated.
The traders suggested that the tax exempt income should be increased from Rs400,000 to Rs1.5 million. Further the turnover for sales tax registration requirement should be enhanced from Rs5 million to Rs50 million.
The e-filing of returns should be restricted to limited companies. They said that the random audit was promoting corruption, which should be either abolished or replaced with a better system.
They suggested that essential items should be exempted from sales tax.
The traders assured the government that if their demands are accepted then not only revenue would increase but around one million return filers would also come into tax net.
