News Desk
HYDERABAD: Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCCI) President Adeel Siddiqui has opposed a surge in tax slabs and said that the government should broaden its tax net instead of bringing about raise in slabs.
He appealed to the government to do away with these policies as Pakistan’s economy could not afford wrong policies. He lamented that traders and businesspeople would have no other option, except for going abroad in such conditions.
In a reaction to the federal budget 2023-2024 on Monday, he said that the government amended the finance bill 2023-2024 which could not be lauded as far as a surge in tax slab was concerned.
“In view of the amendment, the tax slab was increased from 20 per cent to 22.5 per cent for those earning Rs2.4 million per annum. The slab was scaled up from 25 per cent to 27.5 per cent for having income of Rs3.6 million annually and people having taxable income of Rs6 million per annum would be paying 35 per cent instead of 32.5 per cent tax now. All sorts of sales to unregistered persons had been taxed by 4 per cent now from 3 per cent,” he said.
He said that the businesspeople do not support a rise in slabs and Pakistan’s economy could not be strengthened until the government broadens the text net which would be useful. He said that broadening the tax net would help raise and collect taxes.
“In fact 1.6 million taxpayers are being pressed further to pay more tax. Traders and businessmen are being compelled to leave country,” he said.
He urged the government to take prudent decisions as it was big injustice with businessmen who are paying taxes. Business community, he said, should be offered incentives instead of being agonised.
Adeel Siddiqui said that the tax net could not be raised in present conditions and indirect taxation was always detrimental to the national economy. He said that the poor economic conditions did not allow the government to take wrong decisions and discouraged businessmen. He said that running industries and businesses had become difficult. He said that bank mark-up of 22 per cent would be detrimental to industrialization and exports sector. He said the industries were facing closure when the mark-up was 21 per cent which had been increased to 22 per cent. He added that this would put more burden on the industrial sector now.
HCCI president feared that the government, traders and industrialists could face serious economic meltdown in the first quarter of new fiscal year. He believed that increased mark-up, expensive utilities, rise in tax slabs would be the factors behind closure of industries.
He said that the federal and provincial governments were unable to provide facilities to industrial infrastructure and industrialists were realizing that more investments in industries were economically harmful for them now.
He said that one industrial unit provides jobs to 2,000 labourers and this increase in tax slab and bank mark-up would not go down well with the industrial sector.
Moreover, All Pakistan Fruit & Vegetable Exporters, Importers and Merchants Association patron-in-chief Waheed Ahmed described the increase in Federal Excise Duty (FED) on juices from 10 per cent to 20 per cent in the federal budget amendments as a severe blow to the juices industry.
Because of effects of the global warming, it is essential to bring liquids and juices within the purchasing power of the common people in Pakistan so as to minimize the impact of global warming on human health.
“Pakistan is already suffering from malnutrition while high taxes on juices are hindering the supply of nutrition to people,” he said, adding that the surge in the FED on juices by the government would affect the investments of the juice industry and the agriculture sector and reduce the income of farmers.
The federal finance minister should remove this ambiguity and difference in his budget announcements. However, measures and sales tax on juices & FED should be reduced.
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