Actor Faysal Quraishi has once again voiced his opposition to the government removing advance taxes on the import of foreign media while simultaneously saying Pakistani TV shows can — and do — compete with the best content on Netflix.
The star appeared on the podcast Fahad’s Den, where host Fahad Abid asked him why he was opposed to “removing taxes on imports”. Quraishi explained he was against the relaxation of taxes on foreign TV shows specifically.
As part of this year’s federal budget, the government announced in June it would be withdrawing advance taxes — an amount of income tax that is paid much in advance, rather than a lump-sum payment at the year-end — on payments for foreign television plays and advertisements.
“Look, back in 2013 we had a major issue when Turkish dramas started playing here… Our industry suffered a lot because of it, we lost our slots [on television]. And each of those slots represents 80 to 100 livelihoods; losing 10 slots means 1,000 people out of a job.”
The actor said this doesn’t affect him much personally as he only does one or two dramas a year now, young actors who need exposure will be deprived of primetime slots if foreign shows are taking them up.
