Most of the city super markets, bakeries and other shops in Rawalpindi sell medicines and other goods at a price inclusive of sales tax and chilling charges (for juices and beverages). They sparingly turn on their air conditioners, where installed, besides selling food un-chilled. Their machine generated or handwritten cash memo does not mention any sales-tax account number. Thus they sell goods at higher prices without paying a penny to the tax department. In the USA, most transactions are magnetic-card based. As such, it is well-nigh impossible to evade taxes. Why can't we make use of debit card compulsory for transactions above a ceiling, as well as impose sales tax only on the manufacturer or supplier, we can easily recover the tax online, if current retail taxing practice is to continue, then a sales-tax deduction receipt should be provided to the customers. Sales tax on price labels should not be mentioned if it has already been deducted at the source of manufacturing or supply.
AMJED JAAVED,
Rawalpindi, October 23.