Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) President Atif Ikram Sheikh has said that FPCCI opposes any further increase in taxation on already taxed classes or sectors.
In a statement, he said the business, industry, and trade community has had enough of unfair taxation and it has reached a point where it can no longer withstand any additional burden.
Sheikh reiterated FPCCI’s stance that what we need in Pakistan is a broadening of the tax base, simplification of the tax filing system, taxation reforms that make economic sense, and an end to harassment or maladministration in the taxation machinery.
He said that WHT accounts for 70 percent of all the direct taxes collected in sales tax mode in the country as per FY24 data and this number is alarming to say the least. On top of that, there are reports that the government may again raise WHT in the country to appease IMF and show a healthy increase in tax collection.
He highlighted that the government would have to bring a supplementary finance bill 2025 or a mini-budget in order to implement any increase in WHT. Any mini-budget brings investor’s confidence down, causes flight of capital, closure of industries and fuels mistrust with trading partners of exporters, he stressed.
Sheikh explained that WHT is collected in a sales tax collection mode and that is not reflective of any economic growth. He pointed out that FBR has already suffered a shortfall of Rs. 98 billion in first 2 months of FY25 and it is estimated that it will further fall short by up to Rs. Â 100 billion in the third month of FY25. This is for the reason that there is no economic or export growth in the country, he added.
He said that the only workable solution to generate more taxes is to generate more economic activity through drastically reducing SBP’s key policy rate, rationalizing electricity and gas tariffs vis-à -vis regional competitors, bringing continuity and reliability in macroeconomic policies and broadening of tax-base to the untaxed, he added.
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Agreed with the statement of the President of FPCCI, Mr. Atif Ikram Sheikh