KARACHI: A senior business leader and President, Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF), Mian Zahid Hussain has emphasized that the same rate of income and sales taxes be fixed for industrial and commercial importers of raw materials.

He said that the export based industries played a vital role in economic and industrial development of the country and the commercial importers were the backbone of export based industries. Additional tax on raw material import by commercial importers was unjust and should be eliminated.

In a statement here on Tuesday, Mian Zahid Hussain, who is President of All Karachi Industrial Alliance and Senior Vice Chairman of Businessmen Panel at Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) advocated that the commercial and industrial importers should be given equal leveled playing field.

He said that the commercial importers paid six percent advance income tax which was non-refundable, whereas, industrial importers paid 5.5 percent advance income tax that was refundable. The commercial importers paid three percent value addition tax besides 17 percent sales tax and the industries did not pay any value addition tax.

He also pointed out that the commercial importers did pay additional two percent tax on accumulated amount of sales to non-registered individuals.

Thus, the commercial importers were bearing total 11 percent additional tax against the 5.5 percent adjustable tax being paid by industries.