News
Monday, January 05, 2009
Tareen hints at bringing all kinds of income under tax net
* Finance adviser says govt working to tackle electricity, gas shortages
KARACHI: Finance Adviser Shaukat Tareen on Sunday stressed the need for bringing all kinds of income under the tax net to ensure a high rate of economic growth. "We need 15 percent tax-GDP ratio to maintain economic growth at around 7 percent. If we want more economic growth we will have to tax every income," the adviser said while addressing members of the Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI). He said that no tax department official would harass any industrialist or taxpayer. Tareen said he had directed the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to address the businessmen’s complaints regarding Customs duties, especially the demurrage issue at the Karachi Port. He agreed to a KATI proposal of bifurcating Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) into two or three distribution companies. Tareen said the KESC had shown no improvement even after privatisation, as it continued to incur losses worth billions of rupees every year. "The KESC is getting free power supply from the government and even then it has failed to deliver to the people," he remarked. Shortage: The adviser informed the business community the government was working to resolve the issues of gas and electricity shortage and tariff. He said a new policy on gas and electricity tariffs, based on equalisation of tariff for all kinds of consumers, would be announced soon. He said the new policy would relieve the industries, which have to bear the effect of subsidies to other consumer sectors, and would help reduce the cost of doing business. He said the government would ensure the business community’s representation on the boards of all policy-making institutions, including the FBR, the National Electricity and Power Regulatory Authority and the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority, in order to make polices and systems more practical. The adviser said the government was taking all measures to control inflation and bring the interest rates down to a single digit. Regarding the interest rates, Tareen said he would arrange meetings of business representatives with the State Bank’s new governor, which would provide both sides a platform for discussing matters of mutual concern. app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk