PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has assured the industrialists here of exempting the Hayatabad Industrial Estate and Small Industrial Estate Kohat Road, Peshawar, from property tax from the next financial year.

Special assistant to chief minister on excise and taxation, Syed Ghazi Ghazan Jamal, made the announcement in this regard while talking to industrialists during a meeting at the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry here on Friday.

Officials of the provincial excise and taxation department, industrialists and businessmen were also present on the occasion.

Earlier, SCCI president Sherbaz Bilour briefed the meeting about the problems of the business community and voiced concern over issuance of tax notices to the traders despite assurance by the government about abolition of additional taxes.

CM aide promises relief in next budget

He also complained that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Authority had deducted 15 per cent tax by making traders as withholding agents, asking the government to take its immediate notice.

Mr Jamal said that consultation with stakeholders had been initiated by taking all the relevant departments to end the double/triple taxation to facilitate the business community.

He said the property tax would be abolished for Peshawar’s Hayatabad Industrial Estate and Small Industrial Estate, Kohat Road, through the finance bill in the upcoming fiscal year.

The CM’s special assistant said the government wanted to bring holistic changes through the finance bill for financial year 2021-22 to give maximum relief in taxes to the business community.

He said initiatives were being taken to abolish dual taxation while ratio of taxes would be reduced to attract investment.

He also suggested introduction of a fixed tax regime.

SCCI senior vice-president Manzoor Elahi, vice-president Junaid Altaf, businessmen and other relevant officials attended the meeting.

In Mardan, the traders and industrialists on Friday urged both the federal and provincial governments to formulate business-friendly policies to boost trade and industry, which would create job opportunities in the province.

In this regard, a meeting of the traders and industrialists was held in Takhtbai tehsil here on Friday. Prominent among the participants were Markazi Tanzeem-i-Tajiran, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, president Sharafat Ali Mubarik and general secretary Zahir Shah besides Waqar Bacha, Tariq Khan, Fazle Subhan and others.

Mr Mubarik said they believed in talks to resolve issues between the traders and government.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2021