CAP calls for urgent retail tax reforms

The Chainstore Association of Pakistan (CAP) has called for urgent reforms in the taxation of the retail sector to stimulate economic growth and ensure sustainable tax compliance. Chairman CAP Tariq Mehboob Rana and Senior Vice-Chairman Asfand Yar Faruukh highlighted that CAP represents over 200 tax-compliant Tier-1 retailers integrated with the FBR-POS (Federal Board of Revenue-Point of Sale) system. These retailers significantly contribute to the formal economy and provide direct employment to over 2,000,000 people, with many more jobs created indirectly, they stressed. Despite efforts to rationalise retail sector taxation, an increasingly imbalanced environment has led to the closure of several integrated Tier-1 retailers and a reduction in physical retail networks over the past two years, said Rana. This has resulted in decreased employment and stagnation of domestic investment in branded retail.