FBR chief tells Korangi industrialists the super tax is on its way out
The super tax is heading for the exit. Federal Board of Revenue chairman Rashid Mahmood Langrial told industrialists in Korangi that the government intends to abolish the levy outright, and that its rate has already been cut by two percentage points as a first step towards phasing it out.
Speaking at the Korangi Association of Trade and Industry, Langrial paired the tax pledge with relief on paperwork: an FBR office will be set up at KATI to serve industrialists, and the reach of the FBR help desk will extend from Karachi to Sukkur. He said the board's aim was to improve the tax system and make life easier for the business community, and he asked industrialists to help identify and eliminate tax evasion so the system becomes more transparent.
Other irritants got an airing. Langrial said meetings would be held to settle border trade issues facing the leather industry, and that a model similar to the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan could be applied to the pharmaceutical sector to make the Track and Trace System more effective.
KATI president Sheikh Umer Rehan thanked Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for directing the FBR chairman to visit Karachi every month, and said other cabinet members should follow that example if the economy is to be strengthened. He argued that the FBR's progressive policies, faceless assessment and digitalisation could widen the tax net and lift revenue, and urged the board to stick to refund timelines, automate disbursement of verified refunds and avoid holding legitimate claims back behind unnecessary audits. Maximum automation, he said, would cut the discretion and official contact that breed corruption.
