FAISALABAD
A special committee headed by FCCI President has been constituted to prepare proposals for the Punjab budget 2014-15.
Punjab Secretary Excise & Taxation Khalid Masood Chaudhry said that the committee would submit its recommendations to the provincial government during next couple of days.
He was addressing the business community at the FCCI here. He said that Punjab Chief Minster Shahbaz Sharif issued clear instructions that all stakeholders must be taken into confidence for finalisation of budged document.
He assured the take cognizance of the problems identified during the meeting and said that there would be no harassment during the process of tax collection and recommendation of business communities would be given due consideration in budget formulation.
He also asked the Excise and Taxation Director to take action against the corrupt staff of the department. He said that Director General Excise and Taxation already visited Faisalabad and he would once again ask him to visit and resolve the issues in consultation with the local elected representatives and business community.
Earlier, he explained various studies conducted for resource mobilisation and suggested two different options regarding income from property tax but clarified these options would be discussed and final decision would be taken after consultation with business community. He said that the ratio of motor vehicle tax in provincial budget was 54 and property tax share was 28 percent.
Speaking on the occasion, MNA Mian Abdul Manan assured the business community that all taxes would be levied in consultation with their representatives. He rejected the previous survey for property tax and said that the categories of properties would be redefined in consultation with stakeholders.
Earlier, FCCI President Engineer Suhail Bin Rashid said that instead of increasing tax rate, the Punjab government should enhance the tax net for resource mobilisation. He said that for the first time in the history of the country, all chambers had prepared joint budget proposal in addition to sending their separate proposals.
MNA Rana Muhammad Afzal said that 85 per cent of the collected property tax was returned to the concern union council for development schemes. Addressing the participants, Anjman Tajran President Khawaja Shahid Razaq Sikka suggested that present tax rate could be enhanced up to 20-25 per cent without undertaking any new experiment.
Haji Muhammad Akram Ansari, Haji Khalid Saeed, Commissioner Sardar Akram Javed, DCO Noorul Amin Mengal, former FCCI President Mian Farhan Latif, Muzamal Sultan, APTPMA Chairman Khalid Habib Sheikh, Senior Vice President Riazul Haq, Vice President Ch Muhammad Asghar, Sheikh Bashir Ahmad, Mahmood Alam Jutt, Rao Sikandar- e- Azam, Sana Ullah Niazi, Shabbir Hussain Ch, and Rana Faizer Nawaz Faizi also attended the meeting.