Meeting tax target: Political pressure termed key hurdle

FBR member says taxpayers have decreased, evaders have increased.

MULTAN:

Nepotism, political pressure and transfer fears are major obstacles that are standing in the way of tax officials in meeting the revenue target, says a key member of the tax department.

Speaking to the media on Monday, Federal Board of Revenue member Khawer Khursheed Butt, who had been on a monitoring visit of the country to meet the tax collection target, said that with the growing economy and population, the number of taxpayers had dropped and tax dodgers had increased.

In order to boost tax collection, he said, doctors, lawyers, teachers, private hospitals, hotels, restaurants, private academic and medical institutions would be brought into the tax net. There were also plans to include private housing schemes in the taxpayers’ survey, he added.

He said Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh had asked tax officials to take decisions on merit and had ignored political pressure. “Nepotism will not be tolerated in widening the tax net,” Butt quoted Shaikh as saying. He said a transparent tax collecting system would ensure a higher economic growth.

He said provinces had taken decisions on agricultural tax, which was a good move to bring landlords into the tax net. He claimed that the FBR had always followed the legislation in addressing discrepancies irrespective of political pressure.

Butt said Rs1,952 billion tax collection in the upcoming financial year was a high target in the face of Rs35 billion revenue loss due to reduction in sales tax rate from 17 per cent to 16 per cent in the budget for 2011-12.

Praising Multan circle’s tax office performance, he said it had achieved the revenue collection target for May. “FBR’s success in meeting the annual revenue target will boost economic growth by five per cent,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 14^th, 2011.