The Lahore High Court on Tuesday sought personal appearance of chief tax policy officer of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on March 14 in response to a petition of local foam manufacturers questioning sale of smuggled foam in Pakistan. The petitioner company through its counsel submitted that the foam manufactures in Pakistan were on the brink of complete collapse due to sales tax exemption offered to the foam manufacturers of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

He said resultantly nearly 85 percent of all foam manufactured in AJK was being exported to Pakistan without any payment of tax or duty. He argued that the authorities were failing to levy customs duties when manufactured foam entered Pakistan.

The counsel pointed out that presently in Pakistan only five foam manufacturing companies were left as all others had either closed down or relocated their manufacturing facilities to AJK. He said the government should be directed to provide level playing field to local foam manufacturers and to stop smuggling of the foam.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019