Trader community announces countrywide shut down on July 19

Karachi: The Traders’ community of Pakistan has announced a countrywide shutter down on Saturday (July 19) as a response to the additional authority given to Federal Board of Revenue.

The purpose of this shutter down is to record the protest against the FBR’s ‘controversial’ clauses of 37 (A) and 37(B), said Javed Balwani, a representative of Karachi Chamber of Commerce.

After announcing its support for these protests, the federal committee of Trading and Industry have commented that the new tax policies should have been introduced through a dialogue rather than by imposing it through law.

Traders claimed that the new laws have given an unchallenged authority to FBR to carry out any action against us and as a result, the traders’ body will lose trust in these institutions.

It should be clear that in accordance to 37(A) and 37(B), FBR officers have been given complete authority which includes search without notice in business centers, freezing the accounts and confiscating the records.

The trader unions have requested the government to consider these policies again to solve the reservations of trading community in order to achieve the economic stability.