- Brass knuckles under the kid gloves
On Friday Prime Minister Imran Khan appealed to the nation to declare assets before the amnesty scheme’s June 30 deadline. Simultaneously the FBR launched its online tax profiling system ‘enabling’ 53 million people to check the details of their bank transactions, properties, utility bills and travel history data. The idea was to tell those outside the tax net that the government possessed documentary proof of their real worth and there was no way they could continue to remain non-filers or maintain that they had no profit to declare this year.
The government has reasons to be desperate. So far, all attempts to raise the taxes have missed the mark. This must have led Imran Khan to realise the hollowness of the claim that people dodge taxes only when the rulers are corrupt. Here is a government that claims to be thoroughly honest and the FBR is still bagging only Rs 13.5 billion in nine months despite an aggressive drive against tax defaulters and non-compliant high-net-worth individuals. The tax amnesty scheme too has failed to attract many. Till last week, less than 250 Pakistanis had availed the scheme and a paltry sum of about Rs 450 million had been collected in taxes despite a personal appeal by Prime Minister Imran Khan through a televised address.
The pressure on tax dodgers being exerted now is unprecedented. Many did not expect the FBR to gain access to incriminating evidence about the amount of funds received and the way these were either hoarded or spent. While the more hardened artful dodgers might still find ways to remain in a state of denial, many are likely to opt for benefiting from the scheme and whiten funds. The online tax profiling will definitely help the government raise more money. What remains a matter of debate is the amount finally collected. The government hopes to achieve the ambitious target of collecting Rs5.5 trillion revenue next year. The starry-eyed PM thinks if people are resolved, the amount could rise to more than Rs8.5 trillion every year. To many this would amount to venturing into the fact-free dream world.
