Taxpayers’ bill of rights on February 2, 2020The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, has repeatedly asserted that Pakistanis are hesitant to pay taxes with the same zeal as they act as philanthropists. The main cause identified by him is mistrust between the taxpayers and tax agencies as well as the failure of successive governments to spend the taxes prudently for the […]
Oppressive taxes & rich-poor divide on January 26, 2020The world’s 2,153 billionaires have more wealth than the 4.6 billion people who make up 60 percent of the planet’s population-Oxfam’s report, ‘Time to Care’, published on 20 January 2020. In Pakistan, the average net worth of a parliamentarian is $900,000, yet few of them pay taxes. Instead, elites in parliament exploit their positions to […]
‘Hot Money’: lower tax on higher yield! on January 19, 2020It is unfortunate that contrary to all tall claims of getting rid of loans, especially the costly ones, the coalition Government of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in pursuit of ‘hot money’ from foreign entities is not only increasing the quantum of already monstrous debt and its servicing, but also causing loss to national exchequer by extending […]
Height of ignorance & naivety! on January 5, 2020The myth that technocrats can run government affairs better than bureaucrats is busted at least in Pakistan in recent months by Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs. Firstly on November 11, 2019 he misquoted price of tomatoes and then on January 1, 2019 while he praised […]
2019 PAKSITAN’S FISCAL CHALLENGES on January 4, 2020“An unusual decline in revenue collection and steep rise in current expenditures caused a deterioration in all major fiscal indicators during FY19. The overall budget deficit during the year stood at a historic high of 8.9 percent of GDP, which was also in excess of the 4.9 percent target set in the Budget 2018- 19. […]
Making 2020 year of prosperity on December 28, 2019The pathetic performance of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) in achieving even downward revised budgets for the last many years has adversely affected the fiscal scene-on the one hand federal government is in deep debt trap, fiscal deficit plus debt servicing are becoming unmanageable and on the other provinces-heavily dependent on share/transfers under National Finance […]
Collect aggressively, refund reluctantly on December 22, 2019The poor genuine exporters were left begging for their refunds but fraudsters made up bogus documentation and decamped with huge amounts, unpunished and unquestioned-Tahir Jahangir, Chairman, Towel Manufacturers Association of Pakistan The allegations levelled in article, written by Chairman of Towel Manufacturing Association that Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is blocking genuine refunds of exporters […]
Reckless borrowing, ruthless spending & bailouts on December 15, 2019Even with a steep decline in development spending, total spending grew by 11.3 percent during FY19. The major push came from current expenditures, which grew by 21.3 percent on top of 12.6 percent growth last year- The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in its ‘Annual Report 2018-19-The State of Pakistan’s Economy For the last many […]
Repressive taxes, debt trap & fiscal fiasco on December 8, 2019“Higher reliance on withholding taxes and within withholding taxes a high concentration on a few items makes the income tax revenues vulnerable. Moreover, taxing the already taxed, is a regressive approach which creates burden on the compliant taxpayers hence, FBR is focusing on working out a plan to diversify the base of income tax in […]
Taxes & social welfare model on December 1, 2019Under the existing tax system, less-privileged segments of society are subjected to oppressive taxation. What makes the situation more painful is the fact that money collected as revenues is used less for the welfare of public and more to finance the luxuries and benefits of elites-militro-judicial-civil complex, businessmen-turned-politicians, absentee landowners in power. The elites enjoy […]