PM gives away excellence awards: Award-winning taxpayers to get ‘blue passport’, ‘honour card’

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has announced to give blue passports and honour cards to the award-winning taxpayers as well as the status of honorary ambassadors to top taxpayers in all categories and honour cards.

Addressing the ceremony after distributing excellence awards to compliant taxpayers and leading exporters, the premier said that all those award-recipient taxpayers would be given blue passports, besides top-of-the-line taxpayers would be issued ‘Pakistan Honour Card’.

Similarly, those who are at the top on every category are being granted the status of Pakistan’s honorary ambassador.

Compliant taxpayers, exporters: PM to give away awards on 21st

The prime minister said that the sole purpose of this event was that the entire nation could know about the heroes who honestly paid taxes from their earnings besides contributing to the non-conventional exports and businesses. This is not a routine event rather the ceremony is to convey to the nation that to solve the economic challenges by doing away with red tape, delay and inefficiencies and provide a congenial environment. The government’s job is of catalyst to provide a policy framework. He said that a strong economy leads to a strong voice that can be heard everywhere. He said that the time has come to fix the wrongs of 76 years.

He said that we have to move collectively towards competitive electricity and has to remove oil-guzzling GENCOs.

Similarly, total restructuring is being done and consultants will be appointed next month. He said that FBR’s Rs2.7 trillion is under litigation and total revenue collection for the ongoing fiscal year is Rs9 trillion. We need to appoint tribunal heads with good salary packages who could decide the pending cases on merit to at least get Rs1,300 billion in the kitty. He said that he is supportive of reducing the tax slabs and broadening the tax base and innovative tax policy.

He said that there is only one way to increase export-led growth, develop the agriculture sector and take ahead the OT sector. He said that there are complicated issues of gas electricity and oil at the federal and provincial levels and these have to be resolved. He said that the last installment of SBA would be received by Pakistan, hopefully, next month and another programme has to be taken from the Fund. He said that the actual responsibility of the government is to bring about economic stability, increase growth, and create employment opportunities.

Finance Minister Aurangzeb said that the direct taxes on the domestic side and exports on the external front are the leaders of growth and development.

On the business front, the finance minister said that first, the private sector has to lead the country and second, import-led subsidy-supported businesses are not sustainable anymore. He said that “we have to accelerate export-led growth. You have to increase productivity in your own operations and the government would provide policy framework, continuity and certainly on information technology side skill development”.

The finance minister further stated the government would be at service at all times. He said that digitisation is needed in the tax sector so that leakages could be addressed. He said that award winners deserved congratulations and they are national heroes. He stressed the implementation of end-to-end digitalisation to plug the leakages.

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) chairman said that the government is acknowledging the compliant taxpayers and leading exporters. He said that the prime minister is very keen to improve the FBR and directed to clear the clearance of pending refunds of the exporters in his first speech to the nation. “We are working on digital tax administration,” he added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024