Expert calls for replacement of FBR

LAHORE: A professionally competent leadership should replace the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), said a United Kingdom-based Chartered Tax Adviser Khalid Mehmood.

Delivering a lecture on “Financial and Tax Reforms in Pakistan” at the Institute of Statistics, Punjab University on Monday, he said that in the prevailing worldwide scenario, the entire Pakistani economy must be fully documented. He suggested the introduction of ‘transaction based taxes’ and the broadening of the tax net by levying more taxes on the rich people in the country. He said that 80 per cent of the country’s total wealth is controlled by the 10 per cent elite, who only contribute five per cent towards tax collection.

Mehmood stressed the need for separation of collection and assessment of taxes. He said that the direct tax ratio to gross domestic product (GDP) in Pakistan is hardly 10.2 per cent, which is lower than most developing countries.

He said that the reformed general sales tax (RGST) – if implemented in its current form – will further push millions of poor below poverty line.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 1^st, 2011.