FM says tax-GDP ratio has reduced to 9% from 14.5% in 1998-99 which means a loss of revenue of over Rs 1,400b
Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar said on Tuesday that interest of the domestic industry will be protected so that the job market remains unaffected and remains competitive.
Presiding over first meeting of the Committee constituted by the prime minister to review the concessionary regime, the finance minister said that the government will provide protection where required and will not impose any burden where it is not sustainable or impacts the common man.
He therefore advised the committee to be careful while deciding the fate of Statutory Regulatory Orders (SROs) as many charitable institutions and Non-Profit organizations have been given protection.
The Finance Minister expressed the hope that the committee will build on the work already carried out by Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and come out with concrete recommendations.
It will be pertinent to mention here that the FBR has been issuing SROs on various occasions to give concessions in custom duty, income tax and sales tax.
Ishaq Dar said that the committee should review SROs with an independent and open mind and conduct an exercise in keeping with the national interest.
He said that the Prime Minister’s decision to constitute this committee and include in it, representatives of relevant ministries as well as stakeholders including business persons is aimed at taking all on board so that the decisions are made with collective wisdom.
The Finance Minister said that the tax-GDP ratio had reduced to 9% from 14.5% in 1998-99 which means a loss of revenue of over Rs 1400 billion.
The Finance Minister recalled that in his budget speech he had made a commitment to review the entire concessionary regime. In this connection the Finance Minister said that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has been working hard to rationalize and streamline SROs and he has been himself holding several meetings.
The purpose of carrying out this exercise is to remove distortions and disparities created due to the issuance of arbitrary SROs, he added.
That’s great!
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