LAHORE – Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Kashif Anwar has suggested initiating barter trade and trade in local currency with regional countries to overcome the crisis of depleting foreign exchange reserves.
Addressing a press conference at LCCI on Wednesday, he stressed the need of taking practical measures for reducing the cost of doing business that would ultimately promote industrialization.
Flanked by LCCI senior vice president Zafar Mahmood Ch, vice president Adnan Khalid Butt and EC members, he shared details of his recent meeting with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. He said that it was really encouraging that the government has promised to give a business-friendly budget. He shared details of budget proposals formulated by the LCCI.
Kashif Anwar demanded a downward revision of interest rates and bringing it at par with regional countries like China, India and Bangladesh. He also urged the government to lower the refinance rate, introduce soft policies for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and provide special financing schemes with low markup rates and no collateral requirements.
For enhancing tax compliance and documentation, he proposed the introduction of a declaration scheme. This scheme will encourage individuals to declare foreign and local assets and inject liquidity in the economy. He stressed the need of raising awareness among non-filers about the benefits of entering the tax net. He suggested expanding the tax base by bringing individuals with industrial or commercial electricity or gas connections into the tax net. He recommended charging a 25% income tax on the bills (electricity/gas) of non-filers and making National Tax Number (NTN) compulsory for new commercial electricity/gas connections.
He also called for reducing the amount of fines, penalties, and surcharges imposed on taxpayers. He suggested rationalizing penalties based on revenue loss and adjusting determined advance tax against pending refunds. He emphasized the need of establishing a committee to clear the refund backlog promptly. He highlighted the need of expediting the resolution of tax revenue claims and proposed active engagement with the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee (ADRC). He suggested granting chambers of commerce representation in the ADRC and ensuring that its decisions were binding and not challengeable by tax forums.
