Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KPCCI) on Wednesday formally demanded opening of Ghulam Khan Check Post in North Waziristan for exports to Afghanistan to lessen export load from Torkham Border.
KPCCI President Dr Muhammad Yusaf Sarwar put up this demand before Collector Customs Peshawar Dr Naeem Khan who paid a visit to the chamber to apprise himself of the problems faced by the exporters, traders and business community of the province.
On this occasion, he said except cement no other rebatable export was allowed from Ghulam Khan Check Post, so 90 percent export was made from Torkham Border. Therefore, they requested the concerned quarters in the FBR to allow export of rebatable items from this check post which would not only decrease export load from Torkham Border but would also help saving up to Rs 60,000, to Rs 70,000 to the business community in transport fares, he added.
Dr Yusaf Sarwar acknowledged improvement in the performance of the tax collection departments in the wake of recently introduced reforms adding that certain measures had been taken to make these departments more business friendly. He told there existed total understanding between KPCCI Regional Tax Office, Customs Collectorate and Federal Tax Ombudsman. He said majority of the problems of the exporters and traders were addressed at these four forums in the province. The business community got a relief due to increasing coordination between these departments and they hoped this mutual trust and harmony would continue to promote in the coming days. The KPCCI head said that every individual wanted to pay his share of tax provided the taxation system was made transparent. Due to certain lacunas in the taxation system, people were reluctant to be part of the tax net. The trust-building between attached departments of the FBR and business community was possible if tax collection departments played the role of facilitator and not that of tax collection only.
