KARACHI: Businessmen on Monday rejected the government’s ‘trader-friendly tax scheme’ labelling it as detrimental to the economy.
“The government’s economic policies are incomprehensible,” Mehmood Hamid, President of the All Pakistan Organization of Small Traders and Cottage Industries Karachi said.
Speaking at the traders gathering in the city’s Nazimabad locality, he said that the government’s move to enforce the “traders-friendly” tax on the first day of April is tantamount to April fool.
Expressing profound concerns at the sudden announcement of the implementation of this tax from April 1 without a consultation, saying that the move has hurt the merchants nationwide.
“The government’s policies are incomprehensible, as they have just increased petrol prices by Rs10 a liter on the night of March 31, added Rs5 a unit to electricity bills just five days ago and raised gas prices significantly,” he added.
The public, he said, is already suffering from hunger and bankruptcy, and their purchasing power has been exhausted. By imposing new laws on traders, they are being harassed, he added.
He demanded that the increases in petrol, gas, and electricity prices should be withdrawn, saying the government should end its lavish spending and avoid burdening the poor with load of taxes.
“The rulers are so desperate to obtain new loans from the IMF and that is why they are imposing taxes on the poor nation… they are also unwilling to reduce their extravagance,” he added.
The country’s assets have been mortgaged, and loans are being taken from the IMF under stringent conditions, he said.
“About Rs2.5 million earmarked for the purchase of tyres for the vehicles of the non-elected Chief Minister of Punjab with additional allocations for buying new helicopters,” he said.
The beleaguered nation including children, resorting to suicides, Mahmoud Hamid said and added that whatever taxes are being imposed on traders, eventually the poor will have to pay the cost.
He announced that a consultative meeting of traders will be held to draw an agenda for the future action on April 3, 2024.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024