The business Community of Southern Punjab has urged the government to take steps to bring back wealth lying in Swiss and other banks and consider introducing one-time tax amnesty scheme for those Pakistanis who have stashed their money abroad to bring back their undeclared wealth on payment of a nominal amount of tax and become an active part of formal economy. The Business Community was optimistic that more than $200 billion would be part of our foreign currency reserves.
Fareed Mughis Sheikh President of Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) in a statement issued here today said that many wealthy Pakistanis have kept their billions of dollars abroad due to various reasons and offering one-time tax amnesty scheme would incentives them to bring their undeclared foreign wealth to their home country. He said with such an incentive, repatriated capital in billions of dollars would enter Pakistan's financial system and boost economic activities in the country. He said Pakistan needed huge capital to fund infrastructure and other developmental projects, but with low tax-to-GDP ratio, the country was unable to generate enough tax revenue to enhance spending on health, education, social sector and development projects.
Fareed Sheikh said that Pakistan would be able to repay its foreign loans besides launching its mega projects without any foreign assistance. He was of the view that one-time amnesty would facilitate inflow of huge amount of foreign assets/capital into the country that would help in accelerating economic growth in the country.