Provinces must tax agriculture, property incomes: PBC

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

KARACHI: Pakistan Business Council (PBC) has supported the demand of finance minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh that provinces should effectively tax agriculture and real estate incomes.

The finance minister made this statement at the first review meeting of the 7th National Finance Commission award.

In a statement on Wednesday, PBC said that federal and provincial governments have to increase the tax base by effectively taxing the under-taxed sectors of the economy instead of imposing additional taxes on existing taxpayers.

“The PBC feels that the imposition of Reformed General Sales Tax (RGST), which is one suggested measure for documenting the economy, would find greater acceptance if all incomes including those that the Finance Minister has indicated are brought into the tax net,” PBC said. The Council urged provinces to start collecting tax on agriculture income under the Land Revenue Act 2000. It said no province has implemented the law in its true spirit in the last 11 years.

PBC also urged the federal government to take urgent reform measures to cut down public sector enterprises’ losses and eliminate waste in government expenditures.

PBC recently launched an initiative to create an across-the-board national consensus on an agenda for economic reforms. Reduction of fiscal deficit is one of the major pillars of the reform agenda.