RAWALPINDI: For the first nine months of the fiscal year, the Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) collected Rs3.5 billion revenue from the Rawalpindi region, and expects to achieve the target of 4.5 billion.

This was disclosed at a seminar organised at the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) on Thursday.

Additional Commissioner Saadia Akmal said the payment of taxes was the prime responsibility of the citizens and in this regard an awareness campaign had been launched to motivate the people to pay taxes properly. She said the revenue authority was collecting taxes on more than 50 services after 18th amendment while the tax had been decreased over 11 services from 16pc to 5pc.

Additional Commissioner Shafqat Rasool Sindhu said the PRA would provide maximum facility and assistance to the business community with respect to tax collection and their concerns and queries would be addressed on a priority basis. The tax day will be observed on April 10, he added.

RCCI President Zahid Latif Khan said traders were not against paying taxes but harassment should be stopped in the name of tax collections, registration of business centres and multiple audits and misuse of discretionary powers of the inland revenue officers.

He suggested that incentives should be introduced for broadening the tax base. The anomalies in the income tax ordinance should be removed and overlapping of tax authorities with respect to filings and registration should be rationalised, he added.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2018