President Dr Arif Alvi has termed the continuation of policies as essential for sustainable economic growth, promoting industrialization and attracting foreign investment. He added that hurdles in the process of filing taxes by the business community needed to be removed, besides providing facilitation to the business community and addressing their grievances and issues. The President expressed these views while addressing the 2nd Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) Taxpayer Recognition Awards, at Aiwan-e-Sadr, today. Group Leader RCCI, Mr Sohail Altaf, President RCCI, Mr Saqib Rafiq, Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO), Dr Asif Mahmood Jah, representatives of FBR, and members of the business community attended the ceremony. Addressing the ceremony, the President termed digitalization of the economy and business processes as essential for enhancing tax collection, promoting tax culture and transparency in the economy. He regretted that the low tax-to-GDP ratio had been a perennial issue in Pakistan, ever since its establishment, adding that tax culture in the country could be promoted by simplifying and easing the tax regime, reducing hurdles in the taxation system. He also called for encouraging businessmen to pay more taxes, judiciously and honestly spending the collected tax, reducing corruption and pilferage, and ensuring merit and transparency. The President said that Pakistan’s economy had been under stress due to multiple internal and external factors, adding that all stakeholders needed to act responsibly and display a unity of purpose to come out of the present situation. The President also urged the need to focus on the skill development of youth and establishing partnerships between academia and industry, besides providing education to over 20 million out-of-school children. He said that it was the collective responsibility of the state and society to care for the most vulnerable sections of its population. He regretted that Pakistan’s education sector had declined, adding that efforts needed to be made to improve the educational standards throughout the country, besides enhancing the enrollment of students in Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs). The President also called upon the members of the business community to enhance the participation of women in businesses and industry, besides providing them safe and friendly environment at the workplace. He also impressed upon the need to establish baseline KPIs regarding the inclusion of women and persons with disabilities (PWDs) in the private sector, instead of merely paying lip service to the cause of women and PWD’s inclusion in the mainstream of society. The Group Leader of RCCI, Mr Sohail Altaf, highlighted the need for political and economic stability, continuation of policies, providing facilitation to businesses, and taking steps to address their grievances. President RCCI, Mr Saqib Rafiq, said that RCCI was making efforts to promote business activities in the country, enhancing exports, and developing linkages with foreign trading partners in different sectors, particularly the IT sector. He further said that continuation of policies for essential for promoting industrialization in the country, besides attracting foreign investors to invest in Pakistan. Earlier, the President distributed the RCCI awards among the highest taxpayers from the business community in different sectors, including retail, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, travel, construction, steel, poultry, and import sectors.
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