Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) on Saturday urged the government to rationalize tax measures included in Federal Budget Fiscal Year 2023-24 for the real estate sector in order to further promote and develop the sector and all other allied industries in the country.
It urged the government to engage realtors in consultation and rationalize taxes on this important sector to save the businesses and the economy from their negative consequences.
The construction and real estate sector is the backbone of the economy as it facilitates the growth of over 70 allied industries, generates economic activities, attracts investment, and creates plenty of new jobs.
“However, the government in budget 23-24 have imposed taxes on the real estate sector that would hamper property businesses and ultimately impact the overall growth of the economy,” said Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari, President ICCI.
While addressing a seminar on tax issues of the real estate sector organized by ICCI in collaboration with the Islamabad Estate Agents Association (IEAA) and Federal of Realtors Pakistan (FORP), he said, “Many businesses from real estate sectors have already closed down due to tax rates and if these taxes were not revised, more businesses would face closure.”
He urged the government to provide attractive incentives to the construction and real estate sector that would bring more investment to the country and help in the early revival of the economy. He assured that ICCI would fully cooperate with IEAA and FORP in their efforts for resolving tax issues.
Speaking on the occasion, President of the Islamabad Estate Agents Association Sardar Tahir Mehmood, and President of the Federation of Pakistan Realtors highlighted the major tax issues of the real estate sector. He said that the 1% tax on deemed income of immovable assets under Sec-7E entails negative consequences for the real estate and property sector and urged that the government should immediately withdraw this tax to save the real estate businesses from collapse.
He said, “The WHT on filer buyers and sellers has been raised from 2% to 3% while on non-filer buyers, it has been from 7% to 10.5% and on non-filer sellers from 4% to 6%. He said that these tax measures would have a counterproductive impact as they would promote tax evasion instead of improving the tax revenue for the country.”—APP
