President of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Mr.Mahfooz Elahi chairing a meeting of the tax committee of ICCI said that the current system of taxation is weekend stressed to make it affective to bring more people in the tax net.

He said that in Pakistan only a few lac of people pay taxes and government is still following the policy of milking of same cows.  He was of the view that tax should be levied on the income basis and every sector of the economy should be taxed.

President Mr.Mahfooz Elahi said that the recent food has badly affected the economy of the country and the government stopping all development projects, has shifted its focus to provide help to the affectees. He feared that this policy will stop the process of development and attracting foreign investment in the country.

He said that no government can run its affairs, without taxes and revenue generation and stressed that every Pakistani should voluntarily contribute in the form of taxes to run the wheel of the economy and to put our country on the road to progress and sustainable development.

The Chief of ICCI highly emphasized that government should also cut its unnecessary expenditures and consider reducing number of ministers and advisors to half because these measures will boost the confidence and trust of the general public on the government.

He said that it is discouraging that our friendly countries and international financial institutions also showed great distrust on the government policies and US Foreign Minister in its recent statement emphasized that government will have to levy taxes on rich people, if it wants to seek the support of the international community.

Mr.Mahfooz Elahi said that in Pakistan, the agriculture has a share of 65 percent in the GDP but this sector is not contributing in the form of taxes and emphasized that tax should be levied on the agriculture income as well. He also stressed that government should also take measures to create corruption free environment and assured cooperation of the business community in further expanding tax net.