KARACHI, July 10: Member Sales Tax, Central Board of Revenue (CBR), Shahid Ahmed has said that the present budget has given maximum tax relief to the taxpayers, especially the salaried class. The business- friendly policies have increased the economic activities and generated more tax revenue.

Addressing the Meritorious Reward ceremony in the Medium Taxpayers Unit (MTU) in Karachi, he said the unit collected Rs22.8 billion in 2005-06 as compared to Rs17.7 billion, up by 29 per cent.

He said that the collection of tax through the Universal Self Assessment Scheme (USAS) has removed all the apprehensions of the donor agencies, says a press release issued by MTU Karachi.

Regional Commissioner of Income Tax, Abrar Ahmed said that in the near future, the functional based system, now in vogue at MTU, will be adopted by the entire Income Tax department.

Commissioner MTU Asrar Raouf said that the MTU had surpassed the budget target of Rs22.8 billion by almost Rs2 billion and the revenue increase at the national level was 18 per cent. The contribution of MTU to the tax-GDP-ratio is commendable with the increased number of 61,381 registered taxpayers. A total of 10,879 refund claims were settled in 2005-06 as compared to 6,737 in the last fiscal.