KARACHI: The Site Association of Industry (SAI) has urged the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to treat its members fairly, maintaining a difference between a filer and a non-filer of tax.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the association said its members have been harassed by FBR’s ongoing drive of sending audit notices to taxpayers.

SAI President Asad Nisar Barkhurdaria said that auditing filers would not serve the purpose and could deter non-filers from getting documented.

One reason behind this heavy-handedness appeared to be the pressure on regional tax offices to meet the revenue collection targets, he said.

He said the industry was already under pressure from high cost of doing business.

Instead of “undue” focus on filers to expand the tax base, the FBR should target those thousands of non-filers it has claimed to have identified.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2017