LAHORE: A group of traders met Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Monday and got his assurance that he would take personal interest to get the issue of withholding tax on banking transactions resolved.

At the Chief Minister’s House, Mr Sharif informed the participants that he already had contacted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to convey traders’ concern over imposition of a 0.6 percent withholding tax (WHT) on banking transactions for non-filers.

Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) office-bearer and Political Assistant to Chief Minister Nasir Saeed said they hoped that Mr Sharif’s personal interest would yield positive results.

MNA Pervez Malik, Ashraf Bhatti, Khalid Pervez, Anjum Mahboob Butt, Naeem Mir, Abdul Razzaq Babbar, Mahboob Sirki, Khawaja Shafiq, Shahid Nazir and Muhammad Ali Mian were present.

Also, All Pakistan Anjuman-i-Tajiran (Khawaja Shafique group) general secretary Naeem Mir told a press conference at the Lahore Press Club that though his body had attended the meeting but their plan to besiege the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) headquarters in Islamabad on October 13 was still intact.

He said the chief minister had promised to get resolved the issue of WHT by October 10 and if he fulfilled his commitment, they would not go ahead with the plan.

He said even the government said that the basic objective of the WHT was to document the economy and not the revenue generation, but facts showed another story as the FBR witnessed a shortfall in revenue generation in the first quarter of the fiscal year.

He said parliamentarian themselves were no filers while the government was hiding their mistakes and tax evasion under the carpet by blaming others as tax evaders.

Mr Mir said the traders would gather at Aabapra Market on October 13 where from they would march on the FBR headquarters while their protest camp would remain intact till the government accepts their demands.

Khalid Pervaiz, the head of his own faction of All Pakistan Anjuman-i-Tajiran, told Dawn that at a separate meeting, the chief minister said that he would act as counsel for traders to get the WHT abolished.

He said he was optimistic that the chief minister would be able to resolve the issue before October 10.

Pervaiz said his group would not support the October 13 protest plan as they did not believe in the politics of besieging and torching.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2015

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