Federal Board of Revenue Chairman Ali Arshad Hakeem said on Saturday that computerised national identity cards of people who don’t pay their taxes on time would be blocked while their names would also be put on the Exit Control List. Talking to reporters after inaugurating new Customs House building in Lahore, Hakeem said all parliamentarians pay tax from their salaries, adding only 1.8 million pay taxes in a country of 180 million. He also said that current revenue collection is not enough to run a big country like Pakistan. The FBR chairman said that the tax-to-GDP ratio has reached the level of 9.1 percent with great difficulty, adding taxation reforms are absolutely essential to increase the tax base. Hakeem said that the FBR has identified around 3.1 million people who do not pay taxes despite the capacity. He said that a bill on increasing the tax base will be presented in the National Assembly under which a person can get a national tax number by depositing Rs 40,000.
