ISLAMABAD (PRESS RELEASE)
Muhammad Shakeel Munir, President, Islamabad Chamber of
Commerce and Industry, said that the construction industry plays a vital role in
the development of the economy as the better growth of this industry promotes
the business of over fifty allied industries. However, the government has
imposed new taxes through Budget 2022-23 on the real estate sector which will
badly affect the growth of this important industry and cause more increase in
unemployment. He demanded that the government should review the taxes
imposed on the real estate sector in the budget and restore the old incentives
for the sector.
Muhammad Shakeel Munir said that the government has proposed in the new
budget that those people who have more than one immovable property priced
above Rs.25 million in Pakistan shall be deemed to have received a rent equal to
5 percent of the fair market value of the immovable property and shall pay tax at
the rate of 1 percent of the fair market value of the said property. He said that
the government has also imposed 15 per cent tax on capital gains of immovable
property in case of one year holding period which is very high. He further said
that the advance tax on the sale and purchase of property for filers has also been
increased from one per cent to two per cent. However, he said that all these tax
measures on the real estate sector would badly affect the business activities of
this sector and cause more unemployment. Therefore, he demanded that the
government review the new taxes imposed on the real estate sector to save the
construction industry from further problems. He said that the government
should increase taxes for non-filers but avoid imposing more taxes on the filers.
The ICCI President said that under the new budget, a tax of 2% has been imposed
on all those individuals including companies and AOPs with an annual income of
Rs.300 million or more. He said this tax should be reconsidered to save the
business community from the burden of unnecessary taxes. He said that in the
new budget, agriculture and agro-industries have been exempted from customs
duty but other industries have been ignored. He emphasized that the
government should provide tax exemptions on imports of machinery and
technology to the industries of other sectors so that the industrial sector could
upgrade itself and produce value added products which would further promote
industrialization and boost our exports.