“A 100% penalty would be imposed on the non-filers of tax returns who fail to avail themselves of the tax amnesty scheme,” insisted Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Revenue Haroon Akhtar Khan.
Speaking at a seminar organised by traders and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Khan said the number of people paying taxes in Pakistan constituted only a small fraction of taxpayers in India, adding if Pakistanis paid at the same level, there would be nine million taxpayers in the country.
“The government would not have taken foreign loans had nine million people been paying taxes,” he remarked.
“The burden of foreign loans is increasing because people evade taxes. Nearly one million people out of the population of around 180 million are paying taxes, which is very low,” he said and urged the non-filers of returns to capitalise on the opportunity provided by the amnesty scheme, which would surely benefit them.
“The tax-to-GDP ratio is nearly 11% in Pakistan whereas in India it is 18%.” He said facilities such as no sales tax registration, no withholding tax agent, no wealth statement and no tax audit were being provided to the new tax return filers for a certain period of time. The government will also provide facilities to the traders who are already paying taxes.
A new one-page tax form in Urdu language had also been introduced to streamline the system for the traders, he added. “The amnesty scheme is a move to broaden the tax base and is not an opportunity to legalise the black money,” said All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajiran Chairman Khawaja Shafique.
“Earlier, all amnesties were granted to the smugglers only; this is the first time that the government has given incentives to the small and medium-sized traders.” He said the government was attempting to bring an additional one million taxpayers into the tax net in the next three years but the opposition was trying to politicise the whole issue and sabotage tax collection.
