ISLAMABAD: The speakers at a pre-budget consultative session on Monday urged the government to ensure a dedicated track and trace system to bring the businesses and retailers from the informal sectors into the tax net to generate revenue from untaxed sectors.
The Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) arranged the consultative discussion under the theme of “Pre-Budget Seminar: Tax Reforms in Agriculture, Retail and Real Estate Sectors”.
Executive Director SDPI Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri said that it was necessary to unearth the bottlenecks in paying taxes.
He said that these sectors were willing to pay taxes and it was imperative to consider their suggestions in the policy-making processes.
President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawri said the retail sector was paying taxes in Pakistan, but it was crucial to integrate the retailers who were not part of the system.
He urged the government to devise a proper track and trace system that could identify the non-tax paying retailers who were earning billions of rupees annual business but did not pay taxes.
He said that products should not supplied to retailers who lack national tax numbers.
CEO Farmers Association of Pakistan Afaq Tiwana said the under discussion sectors shared a common challenge of bringing the informal sector into the tax regime.
Taxes in Agriculture Sector
He said that the agriculture sector was paying taxes in 3 tiers that also included a tax return issued from the patwari that levies a cumulative 15 percent tax. He said that although it was an informal sector, its land records were digitized and was digitally documented economy.
Sumera Abbasi, Executive Director TiE, said there was a need to bring clarity among the small businesses and start-ups with proper categories of retailers to ensure an inclusive tax regime.
She said many retailers, especially poor women avoid paying taxes due to laborious paperwork that makes female entrepreneurs not interested in taxation.
