ISLAMABAD:
Midway through the Pakistani government’s Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) tenure, it is safe to say that “honest leadership” is not enough to raise taxes and raise the tax base in Pakistan, said the country’s leading tax expert Dr . Ikramul Haq Express newscast, The Review.
The renowned tax expert found that law enforcement and the use of technology are key to achieving tax collection goals for the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). “If honesty alone can increase tax collection, we should ask Maulana Tariq Jameel to run the FBR,” Haq quipped. The comment came in the context of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s firm belief during his pre-election campaign in 2018 that “honest leadership” could convince people to pay taxes and become a tax compliant nation.
However, his government has tried to motivate the population to adopt the tax culture even after two years in power. Commenting on whether foreigners are exposed to taxes due to a legal loophole, Haq urged the government to relax the definition of non-tax – resident for up to a year in order to assist those who suffered due to the suspension of air travel due to Covid- 19 stuck in the country.
Haq believed the government should put in place a general rule to ease people rather than waiting for them to file their cases individually regarding staying due to the pandemic, as numerous non-residents accidentally become Pakistan residents are. Under the 2001 Income Tax Ordinance, a person is treated as a Pakistani resident if he or she stays in Pakistan for 120 days or more in a tax year. Last June, former FBR chairman Shabbar Zaidi introduced an amendment to the income tax law to shorten the residence period of individuals from 182 days to 119 days in order to expand the internet for offshore assets.
Sources said many Pakistanis who worked in the Middle East and Europe were affected by the change in the law. They were trapped in Pakistan for months after various countries suspended and restricted air traffic in an attempt to contain the deadly pandemic.
Among other things, Haq suggested that the FBR proactively send tax returns to the population and assess their response. Filing tax returns is a difficult process for a common man. During the program, it was revealed that approximately 6.5 million people with national tax numbers were supposed to file tax returns, but 4.7 million, or 72% of them, did not. In the meantime, the hosts also discussed the issue of visa suspension for the UAE and made contradicting statements at the highest level.
Senator Enver Baig announced that Pakistan is losing around 800 to 1,000 jobs a day due to the UAE’s continued ban on work or employment visas, and urged the government to take the issue seriously to aid employment and remittances. The Prime Minister’s Special Assistant for Overseas Pakistan Syed Zulfiqar Ali Bokhari and PTI Leader Andleeb Abbas were invited to attend the show but resigned at the last moment despite their previous engagement.