Tax collection has doubled during present govt: Hafeez Shaikh

[A.Rafay]

ISLAMABAD - Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said on Monday that tax collection has more than doubled during five years of the government, rising from Rs 1 trillion in 2008-09 to Rs 2 trillion in 2012-13. “We have tried to collect taxes from rich and wealthy people under a planned strategy in an effort to raise revenue for development,” he said while responding to media persons at the Brands of the Year Award ceremony at a hotel. The minister said the government has also contained its expenses to 6 percent of the GDP which is well below the inflation rates in the country. He pointed out that federal government has provided an additional Rs 5 trillion to the provinces under National Finance Commission (NFC) Award. Now it was up to the people and the civil society to ask the provinces where they have spent these funds, he added. Shaikh said the provinces have raised their expenses by 21 percent after receiving additional funds from the federation. “Before NFC, provinces were having 48 percent of the divisible pool. Now they have 70 percent and if funds to FATA and AJK are added, this total comes to more than 77 percent,” he said. He noted that the federal government has paid Rs 1600 billion to subsidise the rates of electricity for people. Similarly, the government spent Rs 210 billion under cash transfers for low income groups, he said. Responding to a question, he said Pakistan did not borrow a single US dollar from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) since May 2010. “In fact, we have paid back $ 2.5 billion to IMF on our debt,” he added.

Tax collection has doubled during present govt: Hafeez Shaikh | Pakistan Today | Latest news | Breaking news | Pakistan News | World news | Business | Sport and Multimedia

 

[Ayush]

so ppp is doing some work. But this announcement just before the elections?

 

[Rizwan Alam]

so ppp is doing some work. But this announcement just before the elections?

Few more lies to come.

 

[airmarshal]

Wow!! And what about loans that have doubled in the last 5 years the amount that Pakistan took till 2008 from 1947?