–Protesters say new taxes will discourage investment in real estate sector
LAHORE: Representatives of the real estate sector on Thursday staged a sit-in on Charing Cross (Faisal Chowk) and held a protest rally across the city against the increase in tax on property transactions.
Unlike other protests, a great majority of the protesters came on their SUVs, trucks and motorcycles, waving banners and placards for this one. They also played recorded slogans on the speakers fixed on the trucks.
Lahore Real Estate Association leader Chaudhry Naeem led the rally in which realtors from across the city participated. Naeem said that the business of the real estate was on the verge of collapse due to the imposition of new taxes and it had become difficult for realtors to earn their bread and butter.
“The government has not fulfilled its commitment of bringing down the existing tax-ratio on real estate sector to the level of what it was in 2016,” the protesting realtors said, adding that real estate sector was facing tough circumstances due to the flawed policies of the government.
They said that although the government generated revenue worth billions of rupees from the sector annually, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) was hell bent on destroying the sector and was imposing new taxes.
They said that the new taxes would discourage investment in real estate as the sector would lose its attraction for the overseas Pakistanis, leading to the reduction in the inflow of remittances in the country.
They said that they would continue their sit-in and keep their offices closed until the new taxes were withdrawn and their demands were accepted. They appealed to the government to withdraw the new taxes and not to raise the value of property in the country. They said that the government’s steps would not help it to achieve its revenue targets because many deals between buyers and sellers were cancelled in view of the new taxes.
They said that the government should stop the economic murder of the people attached with the real estate sector. They appealed to the federal and provincial governments to stop harassing the real estate agents and to freeze new taxes on property transactions for the next three years.
Real estate agents from different parts of the country were shocked in July last year and staged protest rallies in different parts when the government imposed a new tax on property transactions.
The federal government had increased the minimum rates of properties in various cities of the country and passed a law that allowed the FBR to evaluate the market price of properties being sold across the country.