Tax evaders, Dr Hafeez has had enough of you!

Federal Minister for Finance Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh said that the culture of tax evasion is a serious issue in Pakistan and the government is taking concrete steps to control this menace. He expressed these views while addressing a National Enforcement Dialogue on tax evasion in Pakistan here.
The Minister said that tax evasion is causing revenue shortfall in the country and thus hampering national development and public welfare projects and dependence on foreign loans is increasing due to this undesirable practice. The Finance Minister also highlighted that weak regulatory mechanism is one of the reasons for tax evasion as it encourages tax evaders resulting in ever increasing number of people and organizations starting getting involved in tax evasion. He also said that tax evasion is rampant in the cigarette industry and the government has decided to take practical steps to curb this practice and FBR’s mobile teams would become completely operational all over the country from 1st may and special audit of suspicious units would be carried out within next 60 days. Joint teams of FBR’s Customs Intelligence and IRS would specially supervise the clearance procedure, he added. Speaking on the occasion, Chairman FBR Mumtaz Haider Rizvi rejected the impression of non-existence of effective tax mechanism in the country. He said that the issue of tax evasion in the cigarette industry is of very serious nature and is caused by non-compliance to the legal framework. He said that FBR has established a dedicated cell in Peshawar which is doing all efforts to check production and distribution of illegal cigarettes as well as entry of smuggled cigarettes into the country which is evident from recent successful raids in KPK and Sindh. The chairman FBR said that introduction of special audit system to check suspicious tax evasion has helped a lot in countering tax evasion. Prominent economist Dr. Ashfaque Hassan, Member Inland revenue Shahid Hussain Asad, DG Customs Intelligence Muhammad Riaz, Member of Parliament’s Finance Committee Kashmala Tariq and President of Supreme Court Bar Association Yaseen Azad also addressed the National Dialogue.