FAISALABAD, April 22: All Pakistan Sizing Industries Association (APSIA) has demanded of the government to replace the existing sales tax system with one window operation in the larger interest of taxpayers of the country.

Talking to newsmen here on Monday, APSIA chairman Mirza Shafiq Ahmad and secretary general Mohammad Shahbaz Kissana criticized the existing sales tax system and termed it a “fraud with the traders and other taxpayers of the country”.

They claimed that due to wrong policies of the officials of taxation agencies, the business community has been facing serious financial problems, but the government is playing the role of a silent spectator. A number of small industrial units have already been closed down due to financial constraints, rendering thousands of labourers jobless.

They said that the CBR authorities and the collectorate of sales tax had failed to complete drive of registering industrial sector and traders due to which the chain of sizing industry had been facing innumerable problems.

They said that due to negligence of the government functionaries, only 40pc powerloom industry and 5pc traders had so far been registered, but on the other hand 99pc owners of sizing industries got themselves registered with the sales tax department.