Dr Abdul Hafeez Shiekh, federal minister of finance and revenue, has in principle approved the new FBR scheme for tax defaulters. With this scheme all the people who have not paid any taxes since 1947 and who have been doing regular business in Pakistan for 50 years without paying a single tax, will now be able to pay only a one percent charge and have all their illegal and black money, cleared for their own use.
With the approval of this scheme I would like to ask all the real tax payers of Pakistan (0.5 percent of the population), on whose monthly and yearly tax, the government of Pakistan has been able to provide facilities to the 190 million Pakistanis, to stop paying taxes from this day onward. They should stop being naive and should wait for a new FBR scheme to arrive in four years, at the close of the new government’s time.
It is disgusting and also very sad to see how the FBR, the biggest organisation of Pakistan, is so lazy that they have found shortcuts for their jobs. In fact, I think the police should also take a cue from the FBR and stop doing any work. They can offer an “FIR day” every year where any citizen of Pakistan can register a case. Apart from that day no cases should be registered. I am sure this will help bring down the crime rate in this country, as zero case is equal to no crime rate.
I would also like to take this opportunity to taunt the FBR and their so-called “3.5 million tax dodgers”. FBR has been promoting for the past three years that they have 3.5 million (initially it was one, then two and then three million) tax dodgers in their list and they will recover all the taxes from these 3.5 million citizens. Unfortunately, we have been hearing this statement from FBR for the last three years now with no action. It seems that going after these 3.5 million tax dodgers is difficult business and a lot of work. Therefore, Dr Abdul Hafeez Shiekh thinks that it would be less work by simply offering an amnesty scheme and let these 3.5mMillion tax dodgers come to FBR themselves. He might be right as this surely will save a lot of fuel and travel charges for FBR, which they can then promote as a “saving” for the next four years or until the next amnesty scheme.
SHAHRYAR KHAN BASEER
Peshawar
When an EMPLOYER's tax is calculated on the basis of Income minus expenses & EMPLOYEE's tax is deducted directly on reaching the taxable income as per govt rate of tax, this would happen. In Musharraf's reign it was announced that in Pakistan employees pay double the tax being paid by the employers.
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