ADDRESSING a gathering in Islamabad on Friday, Finance Minister, Shaukat Tarin, advised the unregistered potential taxpayers to initiate paying taxes before the government reaches them within a couple of months with documentary evidence of their assets.
One keeps hearing such warnings from the top government officials but nothing concrete is done on the ground to bring the non-taxpayers to the tax net.
Enhancing the revenue collection is important to take forward the country on the path of self-reliance and development.
Otherwise the size of our begging bowl will continue to expand with the months and years ahead.
Whilst we really welcome the Finance Minister’s statement on increasing the tax collection, it must be coupled with a concrete plan of action to achieve the objective.
It is only the salaried class which pays taxes honestly and that too because it is deducted from their salaries.
This is not sufficient until and unless the traders, businessmen and agriculturalists pay the taxes honestly.
They live in luxurious houses and spend thousands of rupees on a single meal but when it comes to paying taxes, they try to dodge the authorities concerned.
Since the FBR has all the record of this potential class, there should not be any further delay in bringing them to the tax net.
At the same time, it is important to simplify the tax related procedures. The businesses, for instance, are required to file separate sales tax returns every month to each of the different sales tax collecting authorities.
The Finance Minister himself admitted that it is a very tedious and cumbersome task which often leads to errors and disputes.
Hence, reforms must be introduced to facilitate the tax payers.The system of filing returns needs to be simplified as, at present, a taxpayer cannot simply fill his form and he has to seek somebody’s help.
Simplification of return form will encourage the taxpayers to timely file their returns. Then, most importantly, the FBR should also come up with a system ensuring that the taxpayers also get their refunds without any delay.
