Karachi: The Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) has urged the government to bring down the General Sales Tax (GST) rate to 14%, a news source reported. According to details, the existing GST rate stands at 17%.
To this effect, KCCI President Agha Shahab Ahmed Khan stated that the government needed to cut down the GST rate by 3%. He added that this reduction would yield a positive impact on the business sentiment in the country. He opined that it would lead to increased demand within the domestic market, along with providing relief to industry, trade, and consumers.
Submitting the budget anomalies to the Anomalies Committee (Business & Technical), the KCCI president recommended a 3% reduction on sales tax for unregistered persons in order to facilitate transactions. He added that it was unfair to suppliers requiring them to provide CNIC of an unregistered person and paying 3% more tax at the same time.
Khan said that since the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has access to the database of citizens, it should broaden the tax net by bringing all entities under the Sales Tax Regime. He added that this way the suppliers would not have to sell to unregistered persons.
