Gujranwala Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) has demanded reduction in different taxes and checking of transit trade with Afghanistan while the Gujrat chamber has urged the government to provide incentives for pottery, furniture and fan industries in the upcoming federal budget.

GCCI secretary Syed Ali Asim told Dawn that the Gujranwala industry was facing many problems due to manifold taxes, including high power tariff.

He said better quality and low prices of Chinese products had decreased the Gujranwala’s share in local and international markets.

He said the GCCI had appreciated fiscal policies of the government especially self-assessment scheme in income tax, sales tax and CARE system in customs because the reforms won the confidence of industrialists and increased taxpayers zone.

The chamber had proposed the government to educate traders through print and electronic media because more than 50 per cent businessmen of Gujarnwala were either uneducated or not fully aware of taxation system that’s why they had been avoiding to be registered.

Mr Asim said GCCI had proposed the government to increase the limit of income for charging Workers Welfare Fund (WWF) to Rs1 million which must be collected by the labour welfare department instead of the income tax department because it created complexity and caused lack of link between industries and labour welfare departments.

A proposal had been put forth to curtail the powers of the income tax commissioner to amend an assessment repeatedly. He must be empowered to amend it only once, Asim said.

Section 121 of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 should be amended to the effect that no assessment would be made unless a proper opportunity of hearing is provided to an assessee.

He said the chamber had demanded 0.2 per cent withholding tax on Rs100,000 cash withdrawal instead of Rs25,000.

The charge of I.P unit and enforcement units should be given to single taxation officer instead of two officials to minimise the complexity and wastage of time.

Withholding tax on utility bills should be abolished for industrial and commercial sectors, he said.

The GCCI proposed that the rates of income tax should be reduced in accordance with the rates in neighbouring countries.

He said sales tax registration certificates were issued by the CBR, Islamabad, which caused delay for businessmen of Gujranwala. He said a common tax number should be issued from the local PRAL counters of income tax and sales tax.

He said 15 per cent general sales tax (GST) rate was much higher for local manufacturers of Gujranwala, because GST was the part of retail prices of goods which caused their high rates, rendering them incompetitive with Chinese cheap products.

He said it was the reason that local industrialists were discouraged and compelled to sell Chinese and other imported or smuggled items under their brand names.

He said GCCI had proposed to reduce GST rate to 10 per cent to expedite the sale of locally manufactured goods.

The assessable values of imported finished goods and raw materials should be finalised in consultation with chambers, he said.

The chamber had proposed to cut import duty to five per cent for raw materials of carpet industry.

The government should closely check transit trade with Afghanistan in relation to those industrial raw materials for which there was no industry in Afghanistan, for example, stainless steel circles from India.

Meanwhile, Gujrat chamber president Qamar Zaman Gill told this reporter that the local businessmen had deep concerns about pottery, furniture and fan industries.

He said the chamber had requested the government to provide the latest furniture machinery and develop special centres for the training of labourers.

He said the chamber had proposed the government to reduce the taxes levied on pottery industry and provide latest machinery besides developing a ‘common facility centre’ for the up-gradation of technology to help compete with cheap Chinese pottery items.

The government should control and regulate price hike in raw materials used in the manufacturing of fans, Mr Gill said.