The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry has strongly reacted against continued raids on business premises by the staff of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) despite FBR chairman’s clear assurance that no such action would be taken against the business community.
LCCI President Abdul Basit, Senior Vice President Amjad Ali Jawa and Vice President Muhammad Nasir Hameed Khan said that exploitation of the business community is not acceptable. Chairman Federal Board of Revenue should take notice of the violation of his directions and stop the officials from conducting raids otherwise the business community would be left with no other option but to close down their businesses and take to the streets.
The LCCI office-bearers said that the chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue had announced to stop the raids during his last visit to the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry while Senate’s Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Privatisation had also made it clear that no such action could be taken without prior approval of the chairman. However, the staff has blown the orders into a wind and is still conducting raids.
They said that the issue of the misuse of discretionary powers by the FBR staff and the raids on business premises is badly affecting the business environment as FBR officers are used to entering the premises of tax filers along with a bunch of security personnel, in turn threatening and harassing them without the permission of the chairman FBR or the member concerned.
They said that government should take immediate notice of this unjustified action against the business community as the bureaucracy is also tarnishing the soft image of the present regime and promoting a trust deficit between the government and the private sector.
The LCCI office-bearers said that the Federal Board of Revenue should divert its attention towards broadening the tax net and should bring untaxed sectors into the tax net instead of crushing the existing taxpayers. “How would people be encouraged to enter into the tax net when the existing taxpayers are being treated like criminals,” they questioned.
They demanded of the government to take notice of undue raids on business premises and also urged the chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to ensure the implementation of his directions in the true sense, in letter and spirit.
