Sindh Revenue Board enhances tax collection capacity

The Member Sindh Revenue Board (SRB) Abdul Shakoor Shaikh has informed that SRB has enhanced the capacity of tax collection in the province and succeeded in collecting Rs150 billion tax in the year 2021 as compared to Rs15 billion collected in the year 2011.

It became possible with effective policies of the provincial government and the cooperation of traders and the business community, he said while speaking to members of the Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCCI) here at HCCI secretariat late Wednesday evening.

He informed that around 800 industrial units were registered with SRB which was contributing towards Workers Welfare Fund (WWF). He called for close ties between SRB and HCCI adding that in its directives, the Supreme Court had made it clear that contribution under WWF was not a tax but it meant for workers' social welfare and needed to be spent accordingly.

He said that all industrial units must deposit their funds under WWF. So far, notices for 2021-2022 have been issued, he informed and urged HCCI to use this platform for convincing industrial units to pay their liabilities for 2021-2022 under WWF. He said that two percent of industrial units' income was to be deposited under WWF.

The HCCI President Adeel Siddiqui appreciated the SRB efforts for enhancing tax collection from Rs15b billion to Rs150 billion during the last ten years and said that SRB had become a vital organization of Sindh government for tax collection. He stated that SRB staff was cooperating with traders and the business community. He said that HCCI and SRB should work in unison to serve this city and hoped that a better liaison would be established between HCCI and SRB.

He maintained that traders and the business community wanted to pay taxes to the government. The HCCI President said that business conditions had become difficult in the country adding that economic and political instability had undermined businesses. He said that declining trends in business activities always affected traders.