World Bank told: Tax to GDP ratio to be brought to respectable level

Pakistan has assured World Bank that the present government is committed to reaching a respectable tax of GDP ratio of 15 percent by 2017-18 through domestic resource mobilisation, while by June 2016 the overall tax collection would be at least 11.5 percent of GDP.
According to official sources, growth in the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) tax collection during the first eight months of FY15 has been positive despite legal challenges and the negative impact on tax revenue associated to the low oil prices and low inflation. The bulk of the growth in revenue shall come from FBR revenue and to a lesser extent, provincial taxes, sources added.
The government is working on several pillars; broadening the tax base; rationalising concessionary regime and eliminating privileges; reducing the tax gap; and improving tax collection management and taxpayers' behavioural change as part of comprehensive tax administration reforms. The government encouraged by tax policy measures initially adopted in the budget 2013-14 that are providing above than expected results; complemented by tax contingency measures adopted in February 2015 to fill the gap in relation to the annual target.
The FBR tax collection appears slightly below its revised FY15 target which gives confidence that the tax ratio will have a positive increase of at least half a point of the GDP for the first time in many years. In addition, the government obtained parliamentary approval of a budget 2014-15 including a tax expenditure annex; a set of tax exemptions and SROs were eliminated; and tax measures for a total revenue impact equivalent to no less than 0.7 percent of GDP (prior action).
The FBR also selected at least 7.5 percent of large taxpayers (filed for tax year 2013) through ballot or risk based audits and initiated audits for at least one quarter of those selected cases (prior action). The government also agreed with the World Bank that by June 2016, at least five entities would be privatized through strategic or equity sale from a baseline of no privatisation transactions.
By June 2016, the simple average statutory customs tariff rate is at or lower than 12 percent, and no special (concessionary) Statutory Regulatory Orders (SROs) granting tax exemptions are issued. and by June 2016, the number of unconditional cash transfer (UCT) beneficiaries reaches at least 5.5 million.