January 15, 2008	Tuesday	Muharram 05, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Jan 14: The government will withdraw the 15 per cent general sales tax (GST) on computer items from the next financial year.

This was stated by the Caretaker Federal Minister of Information Technology Abdullah Riar in a meeting with a delegation of Pakistan Computer Association headed by its president Munawar Iqbal here on Monday.

The minister assured the delegation that the ministry will send the summary to Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to eliminate the sales tax on computer products from the next budget.

The minister further said that awareness about computer usage in Pakistan was in primary phase and most of the computer users lived in urban areas of Pakistan.

He said that the government had been trying that 50 percent population should use computers. He suggested that the government should also eliminate the taxes on computers import.

The minister informed that Information Technology city would be established near Chak Shezad with the collaboration of China. He added that the PCA office would be set up in that area with the recommendation of the IT ministry.

Mr Iqbal, who is also a senior vice president of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, informed the minister that that last year the IT ministry and PCA had requested for 15 per cent reduction on the import duty of computer items.

He added, however, that the ministry of finance and FBR did not eliminate it.

He said that IT equipments are beyond the reach of common user. The imposition of 15 per cent GST on imports of these components results in declining orders on the part of importers, which created a gap between demand and supply.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, he said the smugglers became active to fill this gap incurring loss to the government’s revenues.

He said that the government should adopt copyright acts.