Proposal to increase tax-base

Rawalpindi : Today one of the most important issue is to increase the tax base. Unfortunately Tajar Dost scheme has not been a success due to ever increasing mistrust between FBR and targeted traders, said Sohail Altaf, the Leader of the group heading RCCI and former President, Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, says a press release.

He said, “We have to therefore come up with some out of the box solution for our country keeping in view the ground realities and lack of confidence between the business community and FBR.” He therefore, proposed the following;

1) It should be made mandatory to be a member of a chamber of commerce and industry if anyone is doing any big or small business. We have major chambers and chambers for small businesses. It should be left to the choice of the individual to choose any of the two chambers.

2) Necessary arrangements should be made in these chambers to facilitate business registration along with a FBR desk for receiving the tax returns. A token membership fee of Rs2,000 or a nominal amount should be charged from such new members. Tax returns should be filed in the chamber and 20 per cent of the tax amount should be returned/refunded to the respective chamber as service charges. Since the tax return would be filed in the chamber, chances are that it will be close to reality as it will be difficult to hide one’s income in front of business colleagues. Interest of chamber in service charges of 20 per cent will encourage higher declarations. More details can be discussed and a well drafted policy can be made to give confidence to the new entrants and respective chambers will be guarantors of such policy.