Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq After seven decades of independence, the rulers in Pakistan want to celebrate liberation from colonial rule having pushed the country into a chronic debt trap at the hands of neo-colonial forces. This paradox depicts what Zulfikar Ali Bhutto highlighted in his book, Myth of Independence. What makes the situation...Read More

Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq In these columns, we have been repeatedly pleading for an urgent action to review the existing taxation rights under the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan [“the Constitution”] as presently, all broad-based and buoyant sources of revenue are with the federal government and contribution of provinces in total tax...Read More

Huzaima Bukhari “Ultimately what I end up writing about is helplessness and the flipside of that, empowerment”—Joss Whedon When a crisis hits one with no immediate solution at hand, when one is struck by a calamity with no hope of support from any quarter, when one gets entrapped in utter darkness with no ray of...Read More

Dr. Ikramul Haq “It has been common knowledge for years that a large number of Pakistani citizens, who are residents of Pakistan and are maintaining accounts in foreign countries without disclosing the same to the authorities competent under the laws of Pakistan or paying taxes on the same in accordance with law. Prima facie, it...Read More

Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq Every now and then, we keep on hearing from higher judicial echelons that the federal and provincial governments must run the affairs according to the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan [“the Constitution] and applicable laws/rules/regulations must be followed in letter and spirit. While this is an undisputable and...Read More

Dr. Ikramul Haq While speaking at the one-day conference, ‘Doing Taxes Better: Shifting the Paradigm of Tax Policy and Administration’, organised by Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) on March 11, 2020, Ms. Teresa Daban Sanchez, the Resident Chief of International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Islamabad, said that “Pakistan’s tax collection is 62 percent below...Read More

Huzaima Bukhari “A hero is somebody who is selfless, who is generous in spirit, who just tries to give back as much as possible and help people. A hero to me is someone who saves people and who really deeply cares”—Debie Mazar, an American actress. Home is a place of comfort. It hardly matters how...Read More

Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq When the government of General Pervez Musharraf decided to promulgate a new income tax law in 2000, we, amongst many others, opposed it strongly. The main objection was that his regime had no mandate to enact any such law. The rule, “No taxation without representation”, was stressed by us...Read More

Huzaima Bukhari “What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say”—Ralph Waldo Emerson There can be no question about the fact that everyone judges everyone although, most of the time, the judged pretend not to care about what others think of them. This is nothing but deception! The fact is that...Read More

Dr. Ikramul Haq The Government of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has been widely criticized by business houses, public at large and Opposition in National Assembly and Senate for imposing unprecedented high petroleum levy on petroleum oil lubricant [POL] products. All newspapers and electronic media channels on March 2, 2020 highlighted that the PTI Government “facing a...Read More