Business Leaders Slam ‘Irresponsible’ FBR for Ignoring Errors in Finance Bill

Chairman of the Anomalies Committee (Business) Ehsan Malik has expressed serious concern over the irresponsible attitude of FBR Member Inland Revenue (Policy) for not giving time to the Anomalies Committee to remove errors in the Finance Bill (2025-26). In this connection, Ehsan Malik, Chairman Anomalies Committee (Business), has taken up the issue with the Prime Minister under the forum of Pakistan Business Council. Ehsan Malik said that as Chairman of the Anomalies Committee (Business), he was writing to lodge a protest on the way that the process of anomalies has been handled this year. Despite repeated requests, the meetings of the Anomalies Committees were not called early enough to allow changes in the fiscal bill, nor was the Member IR (Policy) available to start the meeting on time or to attend it for more than ten minutes. Members of the Anomalies Committee were kept waiting from 2 pm to 2.45 pm on June 24th, and then after a ten-minute absence, the Member IR (Policy) was called out, leaving no one from the FBR in the room. Members of the Committee waited for another 45 minutes before starting the discussion. Member IR (Policy) did not join the meeting till its conclusion. He said that the Anomalies Committee (Business) was established by you and was composed of the Presidents and CEOs of eleven leading Chambers and business bodies of Pakistan. Besides their own businesses, the members have important matters concerning their constituents to take care of. Their time is valuable. Keeping them waiting was rude and disrespectful. Only taxpayers can have anomalies in budget proposals, and they must be heard. At my request, the members abstained from resigning and walking out of the meeting. “I am attaching the minutes of the meeting that we had to conduct without the Member IR (Policy). You will note many anomalies that need to be addressed. Kindly let us know how you intend to deal with these, now that the Finance Bill has been passed. Finally, we appreciate the way the Customs meeting was held”, Chairman Anomalies Committee (Business) added.