Dr Ikramul Haq

The budgets of Punjab and Sindh for fiscal year 2020-21, announced on June 16 and 17, 2020, respectively, have highlighted a pivotal point that all their projections on revenue side depended on the performance of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR)-Revenuecracy, an apt term coined by renowned economist Dr. Pervez Tahir. This is a fundamental issue, […]

“…for Pakistan, the fiscal deficit is projected to increase by 9.2 percent of GDP in 2020”—Economic Survey 1999-20 quoting Fiscal Monitor—April 2020, IMF The federal budget for fiscal year (FY) 2020-21, the second one of coalition Government of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), announced on June 12, 2020, amid Covid-19 massive economic toll, says that assessment of […]

The government of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has been trying to improve tax administration and enhance revenues but not succeeded so far. Now amid Covid-19 epidemic is facing tough challenge for economic revival. It desires to prepare a budget entailing reliefs/incentives/concessions to all, but International Monetary Fund (IMF) is adamant for fiscal consolidation, austerity and fixing […]

A good tax system is one that raises money with minimal distortion to the economy. In Pakistan, oppressive, unfair and complex tax system is the main cause of many distortions in economy. Budget 2020, expected on June 12, 2020, is to address the daunting challenge of mitigating economic toll of Covid-19 pandemic. In these circumstances, […]

The outcome of a meeting between Prime Minister and the business community on January 20, 2020 as expected ended with just clichés like “facilitation”, “concessions” and “waivers” etc. Prime Minister reiterated: “taxation is a key to revive national economy” and openly admitted that traders are excellent philanthropists but “do not contribute to the revenue generation” […]

“Simplify taxes, reduce the cost of excessive documentation, open the economy for higher growth and employment, taxes will then increase….Not only is our tax policy not based on conceptual clarity, it is also being changed continuously to meet unrealistic targets. The tax rates are high and keep changing several times a year through exemptions and […]

Budget 2020 is in the making amidst very difficult times when we are faced with economic meltdown due to Covid-19 outbreak and extreme hardships by weaker segments of society. The traditional approach adopted for decades in Pakistan for balancing the books, levying more taxes, containing fiscal deficit and other number games will have to be […]

According to a Press report, the 9th National Finance Commission (NFC) “died its natural death …after the Centre and four provinces could not reach consensus on a new award for distribution of fiscal resources during the five-year constitutional term”. It was the fifth NFC since 1973 that unsuccessfully ended without consensus on the new award. […]

In the most difficult times arising out of Covid-19 outbreak and lockdown, all over the world the governments are going for relief packages and tax incentives to mitigate the financial toll faced by all, especially the poor and the weaker segments of society. On the contrary, our politicians, technocrats and bureaucrats sitting in the Ministry […]

Much before Covid-19 outbreak, the widening income and wealth disparities were highlighted in these columns with solutions to bridge the growing rich-poor divide, but no government paid any heed. During the rule of General Pervez Musharraf [October 12, 1999 to August 18, 2008], a report by Centre for Research on Poverty and Income Distribution (CRPID) […]