KARACHI - KCCI acting president Younus Muhammad Bashir had demanded to rescind SRO 191(I)/2012 in the larger interest of the country, stating that its implementation is not possible owing to many reasons.
Younus Muhammad Bashir stated that as requested by the Chairman FBR in his meeting with KCCI delegation held on 10th March, 2012 in Karachi to give reasons and interact with associations/stakeholders and also to understand why the implementation of SRO-191(I)/2012 is not possible, Karachi Chamber had interacted with a large number of stakeholders and even tried to convince them for the implementation.
Nevertheless, to state that the businesspeople were 100 percent of the view that this SRO is totally impossible to impose and further the imposition would not bring any dynamic change in the revenue collection. Rather it will harm and would bring negative impact on national exchequer, he conversed.
In a letter to Chairman FBR, Younus Muhammad Bashir has given valid arguments that there is a downward trend in the number of Letter of Credits (LCs) being opened for import of goods due to the condition of CNIC for the buyers, although the importer is a registered entity but he has to sell imported goods to buyers who are not at all interested in furnishing CNIC.
In the instant case, Afghan Transit Trade would be major vehicle likely to be used and other modes of smuggling are likely to flourish as the importers feel if they import officially then SRO 191 needs to be implemented and if goods are acquired through unofficial means then there is no question of compliance. This tantamount to non-implementation and net loss to national exchequer, he told.
Younus Muhammad Bashir articulated that none of the stakeholders are ready to become the tax-collectors and enforce everyone and the stakeholders believe that this is the sole responsibility of the GOP (FBR) and not the tax-payers. He informed that the stakeholders were also of the view that in case of seriousness on part of FBR to broaden tax-net, FBR should register the unregistered potential tax-payers through data of the survey conducted during the Musharraf regime, data of Municipal Corporations/ Housing Societies, electricity/ gas/ telephones bills etc. Stakeholders also opined that the modus operandi prescribed in SRO 191 is absolutely impossible to implement, he added.