Amendments in Income Tax Ord opposed

RAWALPINDI - President Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI), Kashif Shabbir, has said that major amendments made in Income Tax Ordinance 2001 through Finance (Amendment) Ordinance 2009 are totally against the spirit of the ordinance 2001.
Through these amendments, he said, arbitrary discretionary powers have been given to the Officer Inland Revenue, which will create harassment among the business community.
Addressing an awareness workshop on Finance (Amendment) Ordinance 2009 for business community here on Tuesday, the RCCI president said that RCCI strongly condemned the amendments made under section 114, section 122 C and section 177 of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001.
“Specifically the audit power given to the Officer Inland Revenue will shatter the confidence of the business community, which was built through the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 and introduction of the universal self-assessment scheme,” he added.
Kashif Shabbir said the amendment made in Section 177 was reverting to the Income Tax Ordinance 1979 and practically this was the end of universal self-assessment scheme. He was of the view that through self-assessment scheme, the government had achieved its target in terms of tax collection and there was no need to make new alterations.
He explained that industry was already facing severe crunch owing to energy and gas crisis and the government had completely failed to overcome the prevailing situation. In spite of providing relief, some tactics were being made to wipe out the industry, he said. The RCCI president strongly rejected all amendments and demanded of the government to withdraw them amendments at the earliest.
He said RCCI had been working for the betterment of the business community for the last five decades and would continue its services in future. He said the matter would be taken up on all forums. RCCI SVP Syed Ali Raza Saeed Shah, Vice President Khawaja Abdur Rashid Waien, former RCCI presidents, executive committee members and a large number of renowned businessmen attended the workshop.