‘Tax net should be expanded instead of increasing burden on taxpayers’

KARACHI: The Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, the President of the Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, the President of All Karachi Industrial Alliance, the Chairman of the FPCCI Advisory Board, Mian Zahid Hussain, said that the failure to achieve the tax target in January is regrettable.

He said that the tax net should be expanded instead of increasing the burden on taxpayers. All buying and selling types should be digitized to discourage cash transactions so that the situation can improve.

The tax shortfall against the target in January was Rs85 billion, while the total tax shortfall during the first seven months of the current fiscal year has reached Rs468 billion. He said that one of the reasons for the tax shortfall is the policy of continuously increasing the burden on taxpayers. In contrast, the expansion of the tax net is not taken seriously.

Mian Zahid Hussain said there is a lack of trust between the public and the tax-collecting institutions. The taxpayers believe their tax money will be spent on the authorities & #39; welfare instead of the public, so they do not want to come into the tax net at any cost, which is a wrong argument.

On the other hand, there are numerous loopholes in the tax system, which both government officials and tax evaders benefit from. At the same time, the country remains at a loss, the recent example of which is the corruption in the faceless system of Karachi Customs.

He said that the faceless system was installed recently. Still, corrupt people have misused it, and some officers have been arrested.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that according to the Finance Minister, some big companies are involved in tax fraud of up to Rs3.5 trillion. At the same time, according to the FBR Chairman, the top five percent of the income earners evade taxes of Rs1.6 trillion. These revelations by the top officials are surprising; therefore, he demanded that action be taken against them so things could improve.

He said that many experts believe that bringing fundamental changes in the economy is slow and steps are not being taken to bring real change. They think policymakers ignore the real issues by paying more attention to rhetoric and increasing taxes collected to increase revenue.

Important sectors are still enjoying subsidies, and losses of trillions of rupees continue in the distribution of electricity and gas, they say. The current account surplus is the increase in remittances; imports continuously increase compared to exports, while lenders seem reluctant to lend more.

Commenting on the increase in the price of petrol and diesel, Mian Zahid Hussain said that petrol is used in private transport, small vehicles, rickshaws, and two-wheelers. The increase in its price affects the middle and poor classes.

Diesel is used in heavy transport, such as trains, trucks, buses, tractors, tube wheels, threshers, etc. Due to its price increase, food items become expensive. Still, due to the rise in the price of petroleum in the global market, the increase in the prices of these items in the country is inevitable.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025