LAHORE: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) while welcoming the appointment of Salman Siddique as Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has urged him to convene a meeting of all the chambers and other trade bodies. It raised concern over the true implications of the proposed reformed General Sales Tax (GST).
In a statement issued here, the LCCI stated that Salman Siddique was a seasoned bureaucrat and enjoyed excellent relations with the business community. It voiced hopes that Salman Siddique’s appointment will improve cooperation between the business community and the bureaucracy. In particular, it was hoped that complex and complicated taxation procedures will be simplified, a longstanding demand of the business community.
The LCCI office-bearers complained that they had for several years been calling for broadening of tax net instead of squeezing the existing tax payers.
They insisted that there was a strong need for implementation of self assessment in letter and spirit. They claimed that the reputation of the concept had been tarnished due to repeated changes at the top level in the federal board of revenue and it had been consistently misused by the officers concerned.
Office bearers insisted that the newly appointed chairman address long standing LCCI demands so efforts between the private and public sector are integrated in a cohesive manner for the betterment of the economy.
