Our Staff Reporter KARACHI - Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) president Mohammad Saeed Shafiq has demanded that Amnesty Scheme should be extended till July 9 and tax base should be broaden instead of burdening the exciting taxpayers Taxpayers want to avail the amnesty scheme offered by Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) by waiving penalties and surcharges on all overdue taxes. He said that it was difficult for business and trade community to deposit the principal amount in such a short notice. He urged the Finance Minister, Abdul Hafeez Sheikh to extend the date up to July 9, which would help FBR to collect the proposed tax collection target of Rs1952 billion more successfully since it is almost 23pc higher as compare to the previous years target of Rs.1588 billion. He said that in prevailing conditions of law and order, lack of power and energy sources, negative economic indicators, flight of capital, high cost of doing business and interest rates and an optimistic 2-4 per cent projection of GDP growth, FBR needs to take extraordinary steps focused on not only revenue generation but also on improving system of collection and administrative reforms that creates a sense of fairness and equity in tax regime across all the sectors. He said that all over the world such amnesty schemes are announced but it takes some time and are effective gradually in long term. KCCI president also highlighted the fact that a major portion of economy is undocumented and such amnesty schemes could be useful for documentation of economy to collect the due share of taxes from all sectors and reduce the overwhelming tax burden on existing taxpayers.