Tax fraud offenders may face arrest, jail
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Thursday said that sales tax evasion by companies was responsible for 50 per cent of tax leakage the government had estimated at Rs7 trillion previously.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, the finance minister, along with Federal Board of Revenue Chairman Rashid Langrial, said that he wanted to address the “war on tax fraud”, saying that it was a necessity to increase the tax-to-GDP ratio to 13pc.
“It is important that we take you all on board and have a fact-based discussion,” he said.
The finance minister noted that the burden of taxation, which primarily fell on the salaried and manufacturing class, “has to now be taken evenly to bring tax-to-GDP ratio up so that we can be a sustainable country”.
