700,000 tax thieves to be clawed this fiscal year: Dr Sheikh

Terming the poor tax collection a historic failure of governance in the country, Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said on Tuesday that government was focused on bringing identified 700,000 tax dodgers into the tax net during current fiscal year. He said this while speaking at the inaugural session of the three day conference, “Economic Growth and Development: New Directions” of Pakistan Society of Development Economists.
The minister said notices to 200,000 tax dodgers have been sent while the remaining will be under tax net by end of the year. He said tax reform process was showing improvement as there was a significant increase in tax collection as compared to last fiscal year. He said refunds issue was streamlined and during first five months of current fiscal year Rs52 billion in refund have been released as compared to Rs27 billion during corresponding period last fiscal.
He claimed there was no bribery in getting refunds as it was being done from a centrally managed office and if someone had been forced to pay bribe, he should contact him directly. He termed fiscal deficit of over six per cent of GDP for last four financial years a major threat to the national economy. Increased cost of higher security spending, rise in international oil prices and losses of public sector enterprises were identified by him as major reasons for higher fiscal deficit. The minister said role of private sector is very important in putting economy back on track. He said government is trying to improve regulatory mechanism to make it more competitive and will be facilitating private sector to enhance their investment and production. Earlier, Vice Chancellor, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics and President of Pakistan Society of Development Economists Dr Rashid Amjad said in his speech that despite many setbacks, Pakistan’s economy has shown great resilience, which is evident from the fact that it has maintained respectable growth rate for over 60 years. It has shown the ability to bounce back to its trend growth rate despite many setbacks.
He said Pakistan’s economy needs new direction, as projected labour force growth is 3.5 per cent for the next few decades and the country needs a GDP growth of eight percent and more to absorb it. He suggested modernising the irrigation system to broaden the economic base. In the Mahbub Ul Haq memorial lecture, entitled “Arguing Inequality: Reflections on Societal Crisis”, Ashwani Saith, Dean, International Institute of Social Studies, challenged various viewpoints that have been advanced by politicians, economists, and development practitioners in support of inequality as a preferred social outcome. The presenter questioned the instrumental defense of inequality as being the grease to the wheels of commerce by highlighting lessons learned from recent financial crisis which was an outcome of the greed of the investment bankers. Moreover, Ashwani Saith also pointed preoccupation of some development policies on the alleviation of poverty rather than on ensuring equity. Later in the day papers were presented on growth and entrepreneurship, exchange rate dynamics, and environmental and energy.