What's new

PMLN experience: Tax base shrinks by a third !

Than how the hell our revenue witness more than 16% growth last year while upto 19% this year against the target of 24%?
The volume of taxes is different from tax filings. So while many people pay income tax, not all of the payers furnish income tax returns. That's why the tax relaxations this year were tied to filers,not payers.
 
Sorry!Is the government in Pakistan an Individual because expecting organisation to set examples is like waiting for the second coming.

Officials waste taxpayers money everywhere that doesn't mean I should stop paying taxes.When people will pay taxes they will demand an explanation.My city council has a $ 62 million debt but they were proposing to build a $48 million cricket stadium ($24 million to be paid by the taxpayer).Hell broke loose after people heard about it. :D

Because majority of people in India and Pakistan don't pay their taxes they don't give a shit when a dikhead destroy's public property or a bobblehead builds flyovers all over the place.

A government or state has certain responsibilities! One of which is tax collection. If its own employees don't adhere to this how can one expect others to do the same?

Wasting taxpayers money on bad projects as opposed to stealing it for leisure spending are two different things. People don't have any faith in the government and hence don't feel the urgency to pay any taxes. The people already know where their money is going to end up. There is a trust deficit between the people and the government of Pakistan.

I assure you. Let Imran Khan become the PM of Pakistan and watch how people start doling out tax money including the filthy rich. Trust can go long way.
 
People are unwilling to give tax to someone they view to be corrupt.

KARACHI: Corruption in Pakistan hurts the economy as well as businesses. Although it has widespread implications for each and every aspect of life, the economy bears the main brunt.

Transparency International Pakistan (TIP)has released a report showing a slight improvement in the Corruption Perception Index. Pakistan’s rank has edged up in the 2013 index from 27 to 28.

Despite the fact that conditions have improved a bit due to a peaceful transfer of power, maturity of political parties and an independent and powerful judiciary, corruption is still prevalent with full force. TIP has stated in its report, “Corruption within the public sector remains one of the biggest challenges, faced not only by Pakistan but the world as a whole, particularly in areas such as political parties, police justice system, privatisation, etc.”

Unbearable loss

In Pakistan, corruption has caused an unbearable loss to the economy in recent decades. A newspaper has reported that the estimated loss corruption caused was more than Rs12 billion per day including Rs7 billion of tax evasion.

The tax-to-GDP ratio remains low at 8% mainly due to corruption as a former finance minister says corruption has caused a loss of more than Rs500 billion to the national exchequer.

The ongoing energy crisis, which cripples economic activity, is also an outcome of corruption. According to a rough estimate, corruption in the energy sector- including theft and line losses- has cost the economy approximately Rs100 billion in the past five years.

These pilferages have turned into a massive circular debt, leading to acute energy shortages.

Unchecked corruption

Unchecked corruption over the years has had a significant and damaging impact on foreign direct investment as well as the credibility of institutions has been questioned. The World Bank highlighted this in a report on Pakistan’s investment climate.

According to the bank, corruption, a serious and growing obstacle to the investment climate, is largely associated with business-government interface. Corruption is considered a severe constraint by more than half of all the firms (57%) in Pakistan, significantly higher than the 40% figure in 2002 and much higher than those of the competitive countries, with the exception of Brazil and Bangladesh.

It is common for firms to pay informal payments to government officials to get things done.

The main source of political corruption is the development budget where funds are allocated to elected members of national and provincial assemblies who prefer to recover millions of rupees they spend on their election campaign.

Similarly, allotment of land (agricultural, industrial, commercial and residential) to officers and bureaucrats is also a source of corruption.

Various efforts over the past few years have been made to develop institutional mechanisms to tackle the problem. For instance, a national anti-corruption strategy was developed in 2002 during the Musharraf government when National Accountability Bureau was given comprehensive powers to investigate and prosecute cases.

But this strategy has achieved nothing significant in 11 years mainly because of the credibility loss.

The writer has worked for Radio Pakistan as a business host and comments on economic policy

Also note this:

According to Reuters,less than one per cent of Pakistani citizens file tax returns, giving the country a 9 percent tax-to-GDP ratio – one of the lowest in the world. The Express Tribune reports that the cost of corruption to Pakistan’s economy amounts to $133 million per day, $66 million of which is evaded taxes. This endemic tax evasion has encouraged a race to the bottom. As Umar Cheema, the author of the CIR report complains, “if politicians don’t pay taxes themselves, they [lose] the moral authority to impose taxes on others.”

Pakistan loses 133 million $ daily due to corruption.
 
So people will start paying taxes when they believe the government isn't corrupt.......quite the Chicken or the Egg situation there.
 
Why do people from subcontinent put commas in the wrong place -- Isn't 550,000 the correct way to display 5 lac, fifty thousand? :o:

I've noticed this a lot, since I came back to Pakistan. Confuses the crap out of me........ :p:

5,50,000 people filing tax returns?Wait this is out of 200 million?
Can't be true-too fantastic figure.
 
Isn't Imran Khan telling people not to pay their taxes along with utility bills.
 
Than how the hell our revenue witness more than 16% growth last year while upto 19% this year against the target of 24%?

Most of your figures are fake. Just like this tax net or the gdp growth figures announced earlier which the imf revised or the gdp figures that were manipulated by 10% a year before.
 
Most of your figures are fake. Just like this tax net or the gdp growth figures announced earlier which the imf revised or the gdp figures that were manipulated by 10% a year before.

Acha,

anyway IMF aswell as Worldbank has reconfirmed the 4.14% growth rate for this year.

Our tax collection indeed is low but the growth rate last year was more than 16% compared to 19% already achieved in the first 4 months.

this is the reason our overall budget is being expanded by almost 20% since 2011(when it was only 16Billion dollars) compared to 43Billion dollars today and would be no less than 53-55Billion dollars next year.

2013=35Billion dollars
2013–14 Pakistan federal budget - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2014=43Billion dollars

2013–14 Pakistan federal budget - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

NOTE:The last year increase was 22% with the revenue collection of 16% growth,this year with revenue collection,we expect atleast 24% increase or about 54.2Billion dollars followd by 68Billion dollars in 2016.

Now extract 21% of our defence budget from this :D each year

we are a nightmare in making for you
 
Acha,

anyway IMF aswell as Worldbank has reconfirmed the 4.14% growth rate for this year.

Our tax collection indeed is low but the growth rate last year was more than 16% compared to 19% already achieved in the first 4 months.

this is the reason our overall budget is being expanded by almost 20% since 2011(when it was only 16Billion dollars) compared to 43Billion dollars today and would be no less than 53-55Billion dollars next year.

2013=35Billion dollars
2013–14 Pakistan federal budget - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2014=43Billion dollars

2013–14 Pakistan federal budget - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

NOTE:The last year increase was 22% with the revenue collection of 16% growth,this year with revenue collection,we expect atleast 24% increase or about 54.2Billion dollars followd by 68Billion dollars in 2016.

Now extract 21% of our defence budget from this :D each year

we are a nightmare in making for you

:lol:, lol@ the nightmare part. You do realise that it was reported that your tax base has widened for which you got a pat in the back by imf, now it comes out that it has actually contracted.

You gdp growth - the real one was re-calibrated after a rap from the imf to sub 3% after it was reported to be 4 point something right?
 
Isn't Imran Khan telling people not to pay their taxes along with utility bills.

You know why he preaches civil disobedience. He has a point. The current government has all the wrong priorities. Building metro busses and flyovers can only be justified when top priority matters are taken care of. People are frustrated when they don't have food on the table or job security to earn a living. Unfortunately, that doesn't ring a bell to the people in power.
 
The government is supposed to set an example for the rest of the citizens. If the government doesn't fulfill its obligation the people will follow suit as is the case in Pakistan.

As for putting taxpayers money to good use. How would you feel if your government stole taxpayers money for private leisure? This has happened in Pakistan and is still happening. People don't trust crooks and bandits. Hence they won't pay a dime. At least the vast majority.

So basically you mean to say: "If the government is corrupt, then I'll be corrupt too!". Strong logic fail.
 
What if the government employees don't pay any tax? What if the PM and his relatives fail to pay their fair share of tax?

Employees pay the tax themselves???? Or the employer deduct the taxes before paying???? Here in India All employees taxes will be deducted before paying, and for an employee filing returns is mere formality....
 
:lol:, lol@ the nightmare part. You do realise that it was reported that your tax base has widened for which you got a pat in the back by imf, now it comes out that it has actually contracted.

You gdp growth - the real one was re-calibrated after a rap from the imf to sub 3% after it was reported to be 4 point something right?

Ah,perhaps you forgot that IMF within a month later confirmed that the growth indeed was 4.1%. followed by projection of 4.3% for this year

Tax base might had been contracted but the net tax collection is being expanded at a growth beyond 16% last year followed by 19% so far in the first 4 months.

Otherwise can you explain how our Each year overall budget is being expanded by almost 20%?with the deficit already slipped below 6% last year and this year expected to be around 4.9%
 
Ah,perhaps you forgot that IMF within a month later confirmed that the growth indeed was 4.1%. followed by projection of 4.3% for this year

Tax base might had been contracted but the net tax collection is being expanded at a growth beyond 16% last year followed by 19% so far in the first 4 months.

Otherwise can you explain how our Each year overall budget is being expanded by almost 20%?with the deficit already slipped below 6% last year and this year expected to be around 4.9%

Don't you find it ridiculous that your tax base contracts by a third in reality, while your government proclaimed that it actually widened?
 
So basically you mean to say: "If the government is corrupt, then I'll be corrupt too!". Strong logic fail.

I'm not saying to be corrupt. On the contrary, I'm saying to disobey a corrupt system. My tax money is never going to be spent on me or my children. Why should I participate in such a corrupt system? I don't call that logic fail. Instead, I call it acknowledging the ground realities.
 
Back
Top Bottom