Common place: Tax evasion has become a norm, says UAF VC

Seminar on Punjab Sales Tax Act 2012 organised

FAISALABAD: Evading tax has become an entrenched practice, causing a loss of billions of rupees to the national exchequer and hampering national development, University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) Vice Chancellor (VC) Iqrar Ahmad Khan said on Thursday.

The VC made the remarks at a seminar on the Punjab Sales Tax Act 2012. Khan said it was discomforting that the people always found ways of evading tax.

He said taxation enabled the government to effectively function for societal benefit. Khan said zakat and ushr were also a form of taxation that was levied on the rich and distributed among the disadvantaged.

He said it was crucial to raise awareness regarding taxation to ensure that the nation was able to compete with other states. Khan said the nation had been grappling with a myriad of challenges. He said the people had to make concerted efforts for national development, poverty alleviation and food security.

Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) Commissioner Imran Hayee Khan said the devolution of power under the 18th Amendment had made collection of sales tax on services a provincial responsibility. He said various boards and authorities had been established at the provincial level to address the issue. He said Sindh had taken the lead with regard to the constitution of a revenue board. Hayee said the Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and Balochistan had later followed suit.

UAF Treasurer Umar Saeed said efforts should be made to raise public awareness regarding taxation. He also shed light on the sales tax act. Saeed said the university had been striving to raise public awareness regarding the tax.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 1^st, 2016.