LAHORE, Dec 10: Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (Smeda) and Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) jointly organized a seminar here on Monday to discuss the problems being faced by taxpayers in understanding the ‘New Income Tax System-2001’.

LCCI president Dr Khalid J. Chowdhry was chief guest at the seminar.

Addressing the seminar, Dr Khalid suggested reforms in the taxation system as the existing structure had been more of a hindrance than a support to the normal flow of commercial activities, he said.

He said that the government response to the urgent need of revising and simplifying the existing income tax law was highly appreciable.

However, he pointed out, the government should focus on drifting from higher rates to broaden the tax net, trimming irritants to make it more justifiable.

He said that the time allowed for the review of a new law of enduring nature was too short despite the government’s commitment to the performance criteria especially when the technical experts of the IMF themselves felt that the time for discussion must be much longer.

He claimed that the discretionary powers of the tax assessing authority had been retained under a different garb of Commissioner Income Tax rather than under DCIT.

Any taxation law has to be investment-friendly, he said, adding that to achieve this end, tax rates needed to be pruned to a level which the economy could sustain.

He also expressed reservations regarding the treatment of income from pension and gratuity.

He appreciated the simple language of the ordinance, which would ensure a lesser need of interpretation.—APP