Prime Minister Imran Khan has done the right thing by rejecting the unjustified demands of the business community which is only concerned about its profit, a business leader said Friday.
Demands of traders, industrialists, brokers, and bankers were self-serving and their acceptance would have amounted to rolling back the economic program and allowing bankruptcy of the country, said veteran trade leader Jahangir Akhtar.
He said that tax measures should not be reversed and strict action should be taken against non-complaint businessmen as it has become a matter of survival for the country.
Talking to a group of traders, Jahangir Akhtar, who is former President Traders Welfare Association F-6 Super Market, said that country cannot survive without taxes and everyone should discharge national obligations.
The current government will not be blackmailed by protests and strikes as the majority of those claiming leadership of traders are unelected and driven by other motives.
He noted that some industry groups are also behind the traders because their interests are also threatened by the bold steps of the government aimed at reviving the economy.
Many governments have tried their best to bring wholesalers and retailers in the tax net by using persuasion, tax breaks, and incentives but nothing worked which indicate that they are only concerned about making money.
The veteran trade leader said that the services sector is more than fifty percent of the GDP but its tax contribution is less than 25 percent which must be fixed.
He demanded of the government to take steps to bring real representatives of the business community to the front, collect taxes from the business community and discourage corruption in tax machinery to reduce poverty, improve the economy and save the country from catastrophic consequences.
