Islamabad
Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) President Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan suggested introduction of structural reforms in the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to enhance its capacity for achieving the target of the country’s revenue.
“Automation through modern information technology tools, gradual reduction of human intervention in the system and professional staff is essential for the institutional development of FBR.
Introducing automation in FBR will not only increase the annual revenue collection but will also get rid of issues like harassment of the business community,” he said in an exclusive panel interview.
The ICCI president said that the government can achieve objectives of the current economic agenda through efficiency, transparency, accountability and coordination with the business community.
He said that FBR would be necessarily to enhance efficiency of the tax system for promoting cordial relations between the tax collection institutions and business community, which would also improve the ease of doing business ranking and overall business environment.
He said that the business community was ready to contribute in achieving Rs 8000 billion tax revenue for the country, provided the government facilitates the community in achieving this objective.
He stressed the need to enhance the coordination between the government and the chambers of commerce to discuss proposal for upcoming budget 2021-22 to materialize the inputs of the business community in the national budget.
He also suggested the simplification of the tax collection process for filers, saying tax form should be simplified before June 30, 2021 and orientation should be provided to the general public, traders and the exporters.
He recommended introducing a fixed tax rate of two percent to encourage new tax filers, which is to be encouraged through incentives.
He said that the old taxpayers should also be respected and facilitated by adding tax payers’ counters at all state-owned departments across the country.
He offered to reduce the tax on all potential sectors, including small and large scaled manufacturing.—APP