LAHORE - Chambers would observe ‘black day’ against Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Audit Policy 2016 after Rabi-ul-Awal, while black flags would also be hoisted on their buildings.

The decision was taken at meeting convened by the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on Wednesday. LCCI President Abdul Basit presided over the meeting, while the representatives of Gujranwala Chamber, Khanewal Chamber, Gujrat Chamber, Jhelum Chamber, Women Chamber, Lahore Tax Bar Association, Pakistan Petrochemical and Chemicals Association, Pakistan Association of Printing & Graphic Art Industry.

The LCCI president said that FBR has recently approved Audit Policy 2016 without taking the private sector in confidence. This policy would allow FBR to select already audited taxpayers for re-audit which is by no means acceptable to the business people. He feared that it would become much easy for tax officials to harass the genuine taxpayers.

He said that LCCI has already proposed to the government to exempt the already audited taxpayers for at least three years. He said, “FBR has taken the plea that this step would improve Tax-to-GDP ratio, which we seriously doubt.” The country has one of the lowest Tax-to-GDP ratio in the world and this policy can no way serve the purpose of broadening the tax base, he added.

He also condemned raids at market places and bank account attachments and said that the government would have to take all stakeholders into confidence to improve the economic situation.

Saeed Ahmad Taj, Malik Muhammad Anwar, Muhammad Tayyab, Fakhira Hassan, Ibrar Saeed, Mian Muhammad Ashraf, Sheikh Muhammad Asif, Ijaz A Mumtaz, Mian Muzaffar Ali, Tahir Javed Malik, Kashif Anwar, Kamal Mahmood Amjad Mian, Moazzam Rasheed, Tanveer Ahmed Sufi, Mian Abdul Razzaq and Awais Saeed Piracha also spoke on the occasion and shared their point of view on the FBR Audit Policy 2016.