Deadline set in sand

This is clearly the case of punishing an entire community for misdeeds of a few who exploited loopholes in the system

With the government reportedly receiving an overwhelming response from the public, it has decided to extend its amnesty scheme for asset declaration by another three days. This is great news, especially for non-resident Pakistanis who have also expressed a desire to declare their assets to the government. The amnesty scheme, which came about as a result of a presidential ordinance, allows the public to whiten their undisclosed expenditures, sales and assets, including foreign assets, at nominal tax rates. This is of particular interest to the thousands of non-resident Pakistanis (NRPs) who live and work abroad and are a major source of remittance — foreign exchange — to the country worth around $17.87 billion in the first 10 months of the fiscal year until April.

However, despite the perception created from some headlines, not all those Pakistanis who live and own property abroad have laundered money from the country. Many have poured their blood, sweat and tears — at times literally — into building a small slice of heaven for themselves abroad legally but have not felt the need to declare that to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for obvious reasons. But with the new controls being put in place and greater technological connectivity facilitating tracking of money trails, some NRPs are worried about the process working for them. Indeed, already many NRPs were worried about their bank accounts blocked by missing the deadline to get their fingerprints verified. Further, stricter regulations from the central bank have made even regular banking for NRPs with their Pakistan-based accounts a nightmare.

This is clearly the case of punishing an entire community for the misdeeds of a few who exploited loopholes in the system. Governments everywhere are supposed to provide services to the public, to make life easier, not harder. Sure, FATF listings mean that tough decisions need to be taken, but should they be taken at the cost of making the process so difficult that people resort to other ‘alternatives’.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 2^nd, 2019.

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