KARACHI: Obstacles like double taxation and delay in refunds will not let the economy grow and should be dealt by the government on an urgent basis, said Lasbela Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) President Yakoob Karim. In a statement, he said that businessmen wanted to work for an economic boom provided that they were given space for doing business smoothly; and urged the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to prevent double taxation that was hitting the business community the hardest. The LCCI president said that major issues facing the taxpayers at present were due to noncooperation between various taxation bodies’ jurisdiction disputes, double taxation between provinces, non-uniformity of provincial laws, structural issues in provincial revenue collection bodies, and overall lack of collaboration and harmonisation. He suggested that in order to facilitate taxpayers and improve the business environment and thereby the provincial economies, there should be cooperation and understanding between provincial revenue collection bodies (PRCB) as well as the FBR, standardisation of general tax treatments in the jurisdictions of various PRCB and FBR, and standardisation of sales tax rates. He also urged the FBR to expedite stuck sales tax and income tax refund claims as this issue has caused shortage of capital for the industry. Published in Daily Times, November 29th 2017.