Punjab plans to tax medical practitioners

Will cover all services while broadening the tax net

LAHORE: The Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) is trying to bring individuals like physicians into the tax net and aims to cover all services in a bid to ease the tax burden on sectors that are already contributing.

Punjab Finance Minister Ayesha Ghaus Pasha was of the view that no nation could prosper without taxing the untaxed.

"We want to change the practice of over-burdening some sectors and introduce a wider tax net for development of the country and province," she said, while talking to reporters after inaugurating the Sales Tax Real Time Invoice Verification System (STRIVE) on Friday.

The minister said the provincial government as part of broadening the tax net had decided to collect tax from some service providers like medical practitioners.

Responding to a question whether the government was reducing the funds allocated for local governments, Pasha claimed that the government was transferring three types of grants - General Purpose Grant, Transition Grant and Development Grant - to the local governments under the Provincial Finance Commission in a transparent manner.

She said the government was not diverting grants to other mega development projects, but it was keeping cash for the solid waste control project in rural areas under the supervision of union councils. The project was being finalised without any final allocation, she said.

The minister pointed out that the provincial government had exempted oil tankers from the Infrastructure Development Cess till December 31, 2017, which was why they called off their strike.

She voiced hope that the outstanding dispute with tanker owners would be resolved soon.

Earlier, speaking at the launching ceremony, Pasha emphasised the importance of tax payment, which was necessary for the development of a nation.

Without taxes none of the completed or ongoing development projects would have been undertaken, she remarked.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 21^st, 2017.

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