Traders on Wednesday observed shutter-down strike across major cities against the government’s policies including ‘Tajir Dost Scheme’, agreements with Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and inflated electricity bills.
Major markets in Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Peshawar, Quetta, Islamabad, Hyderabad and others cities were witnessed closed, causing problems for the people who struggled to buy goods and commodities. Only some food outlets, hotels, medical stores and bakeries remained opened in different cities.Political parties including Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Awami National Party (ANP) supported the strike of the traders. On the other hand, the government rejected to withdrawn the Tajir Dost Scheme’. The FBR chairman said that scheme would be implemented at any cost for registration of traders.
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) said that the traders have to be registered and pay their due amount of taxes. An official of the FBR said that the government could negotiate on reducing taxes under the scheme.
Officials said that the FBR will soon issue a notification regarding the amendment in SRO including exempting small traders from taxation. It will introduce a simplest Income Tax form in Urdu language for the benefit of the traders. The FBR has also suggested not to tax traders with Rs100 million annual turnover sale volumes and the tax authority is also likely to amend income tax table for the traders.The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had announced its Tajir Dost Scheme, aiming to bring traders and wholesalers into the formal tax structure as required by the IMF. The IMF has urged the FBR to implement the tax structure for retailers starting in July. The FBR has so far registered over 58,000 small traders/new shopkeepers under the scheme. The government had projected to collect Rs50 billion from the scheme by registering around 3.2 million retailers in the current fiscal year.
To protest against the government’s tax reforms, traders across the country observed nationwide strike with support from traders associations and political parties. “The political leadership has failed,” Javed Shams the president of the All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajiran’s Sindh chapter told reporters while announcing his support for the nationwide strike.
Shams added that all businesses were completely closed in all small and big cities of Sindh. “[We] reject the hike in taxes and electricity bills.” He added that the ruling class wants to take away the right to live from the business class and the people, insisting that the “Trader Friendly Scheme” is not acceptable in its current form.