According to a Business Recorder news item “Non-filers: 210,000 SIM cards blocked” carried by the newspaper yesterday, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has said that it has blocked 210,000 SIM cards of users who have not filed tax returns in a bid to widen the revenue bracket.

This seems to be a major step that the taxation authority has taken with a view to expanding the tax base. In my view, it is quite likely that the number of blocked SIM cards will be in several millions very soon.

Having said that, I have a couple of questions in this regard: what about the revenue loss that the cellular companies will face on account of blockage of SIM cards of non-filers? Wouldn’t the reduced revenue lead to reduced payment of taxes by these companies to the FBR?

Needless to say, implementing measures to broaden the tax base requires careful planning, policy reforms, and effective enforcement mechanisms to minimize evasion and ensure compliance while fostering a conducive environment for economic growth.

The question is how can our taxation authority achieve this ongoing fiscal year’s tax collection target, which is 38 percent greater than the last year’s revised target, in the absence of higher growth?

The step of blocking SIM cards, in my view, is bereft of careful planning, to say the least.

Hina Rehan Siddiqui (Karachi)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024