‘Govt should not impose supertax on existing taxpayers’

LAHORE: “Though the country is passing through a critical time but the government will have to act wisely and should not burden the existing taxpayers who are already performing their national duty by paying taxes”.

In a statement, President of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry Mian Nauman Kabir said that the government should bring those people into the tax net who are not paying taxes instead of imposing the super tax on the existing taxpayers to generate additional revenue.

Kabir said that the immediate crash of stock market after the announcement of the imposition of super tax on the large industries.

He decried imposition of 10 percent super tax on large industries; which already pay hefty corporate tax of 29 percent and generate millions of jobs in the country as well.

“How the government will attract new investments by the local and foreign investors when the large industries are being charged 39 per cent tax”, Mian Nauman Kabir questioned.

The LCCI president said that all major industries included cement, steel, sugar, oil and gas, fertilizers, LNG terminals, textiles, banking, automobiles, cigarettes, beverages, chemicals and airlines will be affected badly. Furthermore, all the remaining industries will be subjected to four percent additional tax.

He said that it will not be doing any service to the economy if the government continues to squeeze the existing taxpayers further. Instead, the government should look for the avenues to broaden the tax net that is the only practical and concrete way to generate more tax without hitting the industrial sector.

Mian Nauman Kabir said that Pakistan Stock Exchange was the immediate victim of the imposition of super tax and the index lost 2055 points in a single day.

He said that the cost of doing business is already high because of high electricity and gas prices and high rate of markup while the imposition of super tax will make the things worsen.

The LCCI president said that the government must take the stakeholders on board while taking decisions associated with the trade and industry.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022