(June 17, 2019)
President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF), President All Karachi Industrial Alliance (AKIA), Senior Vice Chairman of the Businessmen Panel of FPCCI and former provincial minister, Mian Zahid Hussain on Monday said enhancing taxes on liquefied gasses will hit almost all the important sectors of the economy. Enhancing Customs duty, Federal Excise duty and Sales Tax on import of LNG and LPG will hit masses, therefore, the proposal should be reviewed, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that boosted duties and taxes on LNG will increase the price of poor man’s fuel; it will increase fare of transportation while the cost of doing business of power, fertilizer, textile and general industry will increase.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that the power sector will increase cost on consumers while fertilize sector will make their product costly for farmers hitting agriculture. The textile sector will suffer which will have an impact on overall costs, exports, and employment while the move can damage CNG sector.
The former minister noted that duties and taxes have also been slapped on the LPG sector which is serving people where there is no network of gas companies. Pakistan consumes 90 thousand metric tonnes of LPG per annum in which eighty percent demand is satisfied through local production while twenty percent of the gas is imported. Increased tax would be a disincentive for masses in the far-flung areas that can opt for deforestation, he warned.
Mian Zahid said the government should promote local producers of the gas; licenses should be issued so that people of remote areas can get its benefit, and smuggling of LPG through land route should be discouraged to safeguard local industry and generate revenue.
