PEOPLE of Pakistan have been hearing for a long time about policies and programmes launched by successive governments to identify new taxpayers and expand the tax net but at the end of the day all such campaigns turned out to be hollow slogans adding to the burden of the existing taxpayers. The latest examples are the ‘Tajir Dost Scheme’, blocking of mobile phone SIMs of non-filers/tax evaders, installation of Point of Sales machines, track and trace system and Digital Invoicing, which could not make any significant impact, raising serious doubts about the ongoing process of digitization of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
In this backdrop, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chaired an important meeting on Friday to review the process of reforms in FBR and declared in categorical terms that the tax evaders and FBR staff and officers facilitating them would be punished while taxpayers fulfilling their responsibility timely would be acknowledged too. The meeting was informed that 4.5 million potential taxpayers have been identified and over three hundred thousand new taxpayers have submitted their returns during the last few weeks due to the efforts of the Government. The Prime Minister ordered for bringing the taxable non-filers into the tax net, revoking the discretionary powers of the customs appraisers, and sought an implementation report from the FBR chairman within 24 hours. There is no doubt that under the dynamic leadership of Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and Chairman FBR Malik Amjed Zubair Tiwana sincere efforts are being made to achieve enhanced tax collection targets and for this purpose a multi-pronged strategy has been prepared but it is also a fact that the success depends on cooperation of all segments of the society and application of all schemes and plans in a judicious and across the board manner. There should be no holy cows or exceptions on the basis of influence and political or other clouts and instead a merit-based policy should be adopted in the larger and long-term interest of the country. Identification of millions of new taxpayers is a step in the right direction but the real issue is how to make them comply with the laws of the country. There are known sections of the society that have been enjoying huge benefits ever since independence but they are not willing to pay their taxes. The instance of the simplified ‘Tajir Dost Scheme’ is yet another example of how powerful lobbies and pressure groups have been blackmailing the successive governments successfully. The voluntary registration scheme was launched in selected six cities with a deadline of April 30, 2024 but only 78 retailers got themselves registered by the deadline. The Government showed resolve to continue with the scheme but this seems to be a flopped scheme going by the fact that only 45,000 out of an estimated three million retailers in the country have registered so far and now the FBR is mulling over introduction of another scheme for the purpose, which is acknowledgement of failure to bring retailers into the tax net. Similarly, the quantum of corruption in the system can be gauged by the fact that the national kitty loses Rs. 3 trillion annually on account of fake refunds alone. There is a simple solution – no tax, no refund – but vested interests come in the way. The plans to expand the tax net are welcome but mere introduction of this or that scheme would not make any difference until and unless one hundred percent implementation is ensured. There should be zero tolerance for tax evaders and facilitators as the country cannot progress and prosper without significant movements towards domestic resource mobilization. The tendency of experiments and stopgap arrangements must end and focus must shift to transparent implementation.
