According to reports, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has a plan to launch an intensive campaign against non-filers effective from October 1 – after expiry of the deadline for filing of income tax returns voluntarily. As part of the campaign, millions of non-filers would receive final tax notice, failing which various punitive measures would be imposed on them including a ban on foreign travel, closure of mobile phone SIMs, disconnection of electricity and gas connection and restrictions on purchase of vehicles/immovable property.
As the Board is experiencing a shortfall in collection of taxes for the first quarter of the ongoing financial year, the campaign is aimed at collecting Rs. 480 billion to remain on track to meet the annual target without putting additional burden on the existing tax-payers. This is a saner approach as honest tax-payers, especially salaried persons, whose income tax is deducted at source, feel exploited in the face of inability of the Government to persuade different segments of the society to pay their due taxes. It is known to all that traders are resisting efforts to come into the tax net and now private educational institutions too have challenged the writ of the state by declining to pay the proposed tax.
The Government is, therefore, left with no option but to launch a crackdown against non-filers or nil filers (who file their returns just to get their names included in the Active Tax-payers List). It is quite possible that innumerable innocent citizens might also suffer because of lack of credible data to determine the real worth of a citizen. Housewives and those who do not fall within the definition of the potential tax-payer – liable to file tax returns – could face difficulties in implementing their plans to perform Hajj or Umrah.
Similarly, the real estate sector is already experiencing enormous challenges resulting into its sluggish growth during the last two years and ban on purchase or sale of immovable property would complicate the situation further. Again, the rate of saving is abysmally low in Pakistan and it would further come down if curbs were imposed on cash withdrawals from banks.
