The Chairman of Central Board of Revenue (CBR), Abdullah Yousuf, has said that the only way to beat the giant of poverty, unemployment and illiteracy is to bring consistency in the economic policies to attain the desired growth with the motive to lead the country towards economic stability.
"Economy is moving towards the right direction and has long way to give positive results and impacts in the long run", he said while addressing members of Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) on Monday.
He said that it is the need of the hour that the tax net should be broadened in order to generate more revenues for economic stability of the country. At present, there are only 1.1 million tax payers out of 140 million population, which is very small and could not help in any way to attain the desired goals, he added.
It is needed that behaviour of evading tax should be curbed and people should feel the necessity of tax payment, he said and added that CBR would jointly work with chambers and other trader organisations in this connection.
He said that the psyche of avoiding payment of tax is ingrained in country. "Main reason in my view is procedural bottlenecks and now special emphasis will be given to make the procedure easy and tax payer-friendly", he added.
He said that he has just assumed the charge and would make a best team to create conducive atmosphere in the country by providing facilities to traders, investors and exporters.
Abdullah appreciated the suggestions of RCCI members and assured them that he would resolve the problems of the business community at the earliest.
President of RCCI, Hussain Ahmed Ozgen, said "We must prepare ourselves for the challenges ahead.
While we in the private sector are making all efforts to improve our products and competitiveness, the government must provide a conducive environment in which all this can happen."
Terming the consistency in economic policies as essential for development of a country, Ozgen said that in past frequent change in government policies kept the investors away.
He demanded changes in the policies of CBR and said that frequent issuance of SROs by CBR also upsets the business community and creates lot of confusion. "It is in the best interest of the country to formulate a comprehensive policy and follow it with true spirit", he added.
The prime focus of the CBR should be to collect revenue for the government. "Nothing less, nothing more. On our part we must pay the government its due taxes," he said. However, he added, that the tax regime has to be fair.
Chairmen Standing Committee of RCCI for Income Tax and Sales Tax Sheikh Shabir Ahmed and Najam Rehan submitted their suggestions and proposals for the next budget and for changes in the tax system.
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