Peshawar/Swat: Community Community has announced full support for a call for a closing strike throughout the country on July 19 against the imposition of new “massive” taxes through the Finance Law 2025-26.
Speaking at a joint press conference in Sarhad’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry, members of the Business Community warned that the strike would become a prolonged agitation if the demands were not met.
The president of the Chamber, Fazal Moqeem Khan, together with Senior Vice President Abdul Jalil Jan and the members of the Executive Committee of SCCI in the House of Representatives here, rejected the “alarming” provisions of the Finance Law, which entered into force on July 1, 2025, said in the previous situation of the community, the business community had not been left without any more drastic option, but even no more drastic Drastic measures, including the suspension of sales sales tax and income statements.
He pointed out that these feelings were increasingly echoed by the members of SCCI, who had lost faith in the prevailing economic environment due to government oppressive policies.
The business community threatens prolonged agitation if the government does not meet the demands
Fazal expressed solidarity with the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which identified 30 “hard tax and customs measures” as a serious threat to the survival of companies throughout the country.
He stressed that the SCCI was shoulder shoulder with all the business organizations that demanded the immediate reversal of these unfair laws.
The SCCI leader said that the introduction of sections 37a and 37b of the Income Tax Ordinance was a draconian and unprecedented movement.
“The Finance Law also has an amendment introduced through section 21 (s), which effectively eliminates any cash transaction that amounts to RS200,000 or more for fiscal deduction purposes. This means that if a client pays to a cash provider, even when depositing cash directly in the supplier’s account, the supplier could be penalized for 50 percent of the loss of expenses of the expenses imposed,” he is not remarkable.
The SCCI chief expressed serious reservations on the mandatory implementation of E-Bilt and Digital billing systems for all entities registered by the sales tax.
He criticized the FBR for trying to enforce complex digital systems in a country where general and computer literacy remains significantly low.
“Why are taxpayers forced to perform the duties of the FBR at their own cost? This will only expand the gap between the business community and the tax authorities,” he said.
Fazal said that entrepreneurs should be encouraged to focus on productivity and income generation instead of bureaucratic bureaucracy that suffocated operations and increased costs.
The head of SCCI also unleashed the total contempt of the Government for the consultative process traditionally established before the approval of the Finance Law.
He said that historically, the Business Anomalies Committee was dedicated to interested parties and the FBR in a series of meetings to address anomalies and formulate mutually agreed recommendations.
“These discussions are carried out with the participation of the internal income of the inner member, the customs member and, finally, the Minister of Finance and President FBR.”
The president of SCCI said this year, the process was first passed for the first time, without leaving space for dialogue or consensus.
He added that in protest, several members of the committee resigned and left.
“Despite the vocal objections of the business community and the permanent parliamentary committees, the Finance Law draft was hurried by the Chamber,” he said.
Fazal urged the prime minister to immediately withdraw sections 37a and 37b, the Fine of cash transactions of RS200,000 under section 21 (s), the requirement of digital billing under SRO 709 and the mandatory provision of E-BILTY under section 40 (c).
“Section 8B of the Sales Tax Law, which also grants discretionary powers to the FBR Commissioner so that it does not allow the adjustment of contribution taxes, is completely unacceptable,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Swat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) decided Monday to launch a movement against the tax to unite all political parties of the Malakand Division, merchant federations, business associations, cameras, lawyers, journalists and people from other areas of life on a single platform to start a public movement.
The decision was taken during a SCCI meeting held on Swat under the presidency of President Noor Mohammad Khan.
The session included a detailed discussion about the imposition of a 10 -piece sales tax and the resulting public reaction. The participants emphasized that while the Government was taking measures to restore Fata, the previous state of the tribal areas administered provincially must also be restored.
The participants said there was a serious lack of employment opportunities in the Malakand division, while residents had suffered for a long time due to natural disasters and conflicts.
They added that if the government could not provide employment on young people, it should not impose taxes.
The participants also complained about the demolition of public property in recent anti-separration operations and said the administration used repression to cover up its inefficiency and negligence. They demanded immediate relief for affected people.
Participants formed a committee to consider selling the land previously purchased for the Swat Chamber of Commerce and Industry and acquire more appropriate land.
Posted in Dawn, July 15, 2025
