ISLAMABAD: Trader bodies from the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad staged a protest outside the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) building on Monday against documentation measures taken by the government in the budget for 2019-20 that came into effect on July 1.

All City Tajir Ittehad Association and Islamabad Traders’ Action Committee and other traders’ associations rejected the provisions of documentation in the finance bill, said General Secretary Amjad Baloch.

He said the government had made a key amendment to the finance bill which had made it mandatory for the sellers to obtain CNIC details of the buyers.

He said if the CNIC number submitted by the purchaser turned out to be incorrect, but the sale was made in good faith as explained in the finance bill, the liability of tax or penalty would not be imposed on the seller. But he pointed out a discrepancy saying who would prove that the sale was made in good faith.

Under the amendment introduced by the government in the Sales Tax Act, sellers are required to include the buyer’s CNIC number on the sales tax invoices.

There was strong reservation of registered persons on providing CNICs on making supplies to unregistered people, he said.

Mr Baloch said though the government had relaxed the condition for seeking CNIC on transaction up to Rs50,000 made by retailers to end consumers through an amendment to the Finance Bill 2019, the basic condition of the CNIC had still not been abolished.

Meanwhile, All Pakistan Marble Association observed complete strike in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa against the taxes imposed by the government in the new fiscal year.

Addressing a press conference at the National Press Club, the association’s chairman, Mian Gulzar, warned that if the government failed to accept their demands, the strike could envelope other regions of the country.

Mian Gulzar said they had made certain tax proposals which had been turned down by FBR.

He said that Pakistan had the third largest reserves of marble in the world, but due to wrong policies of the government they remained unexplored.

China, being major user of marble buys marble from India instead of Pakistan due to wrong policies of the government.

Pakistan can earn huge foreign exchange through the marble sector.

He urged the government to call a meeting of all stakeholders and solve the issues of the marble sector.

The government should adopt a policy in which people pay taxes voluntarily, he said.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2019