Dr Ikramul Haq

Every year before the preparation of annual federal budget, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) seeks proposals from officers, trade/professional bodies, tax bars, and other stakeholders—this has become a ritual. Each year, after this futile exercise, the Finance Bill becomes a more hopeless document—containing meaningless amendments in tax codes, imposing more obligations on citizens as […]

Much has been writtenon meeting the remaining six challenges posed by Finical Action Task Force (FATF) and how to come out of grey list for which February 2021 is the deadline. The‘Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring–23 October 2020, Financial Action Task Force’, says:“FATF takes note of the significant progress made on a number of action plan […]

The seriousness of the housing issue in Pakistan can be judged from the fact that conservative estimates put the housing backlog at nine million units which is increasing at 300,000 units annually because of unmet demand. Sixty-two per cent of this demand is for lower-income groups. Yet political party manifestos hardly talk about this…..Imran Khan […]

Professor Amin Mughal, a doyen of progressive humanistic thinking, in his remarkable paper, After Benazir Bhutto: Some reflections said, “I confess, in the least uncharitable terms, that I was never fond of Benazir Bhutto. In fact, I was inimical to her politics. In death, however, she has redeemed herself. In the imagination of the masses […]

On March 12, 2020, according to Press release of Ministry of Finance, the National Tax Council [NTC] was established and its terms of reference (ToRs) approved. According to a Press report, “The harmonisation of GST is part of the World Bank’s budgetary support loan of US$750 to US$900 million”. It is mentioned in the report […]

According to a Press release, issued by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), on December10, 2020, “A total of nearly 1.8 million returns have been filed together with an amount of about Rs. 22 billion. Last year at this time, 1.73 million returns were filed while about Rs.13.5 billion was deposited as income tax. Comparatively, […]

The powers granted to Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) by the Legislature in 2018 under section 230F of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 [“the Ordinance”] to acquire any immovable property that is transferred by a person (transferor) to any person (transferee) for a consideration, less than the fair market value. It stands defied by the […]

The shrinking share of direct taxes in overall collection is a serious cause of concern. It is now well-established that there is a direct link between growing poverty in Pakistan and distortion in tax base since 1991-92, when a major shift was made by introducing presumptive taxes (indirect taxes in the garb of income tax). […]

According to a Press release, the Federal Board of Revenue(FBR)issued terms of references (ToRs) for Integrity Management Cell (IMC). According to the ToRs, the IMC will be headed by a grade 21/22 officer of Inland Revenue Service (IRS)or Customs, “who will be assisted by two Chiefs (one each from Customs & IRS), two Secretaries (one each from […]

In democracy, direct taxes play an important role for equitable wealth distribution. The Parliament enjoys exclusive power to levy taxes and citizens pay these under social contract for general welfare of all. Being elected representatives of people, legislators have greater responsibility in discharging their legal obligations-tax payments is vital amongst these-and ensure fair distribution of […]