Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq According to a Press release of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), it received “two million four hundred forty six thousand two hundred and ninety four (2,446,294) Tax Returns for Tax Year 2019 which increased by 45% compared to one million six hundred eighty seven thousand (1,687,000) Tax Returns filed...Read More

Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq The failed experience of tax reforms in Pakistan is well documented in a book, The Role of Taxation in Pakistan’s Revival, edited by Jorge Martinez-Vazquez & Musharraf Rasool Cyan, containing nine chapters. These are, in fact, studies conducted for 7-year-long [December 7, 2004 to December 31, 2011] for Pakistan...Read More

Huzaima Bukhari & Dr Ikramul Haq “The last extended date for filing income tax returns ended on Friday and till the closing time, the FBR had received 2.45 million tax returns for tax year 2019, according to FBR officials. However, for tax year 2018 over 2.8 million taxpayers had submitted the returns”—Shahbaz Rana, FBR collects...Read More

Huzaima Bukhari “True religion is real living; living with all one’s soul, with all one’s goodness and righteousness”—Albert Einstein Considering the volatile situation of the world in general and the extraordinary political mismanagement in the Third World in particular along with rampant increase in immorality together with despicable acts of inhumanity being witnessed in the...Read More

Dr. Ikramul Haq The real dilemma of our tax system is that it is highly inequitable. The burden of taxes is less on the rich and more on the middle-class and the poor. In the face of this stark reality, successive governments since 1991 have been resorting to regressive taxation, favouring  the rich and mighty,...Read More

Dr. Ikramul Haq The real dilemma of our tax system is that it is highly inequitable. The burden of taxes is less on the rich and more on the middle-class and the poor. In the face of this stark reality, successive governments since 1991 have been resorting to regressive taxation, favouring  the rich and mighty,...Read More

Huzaima Bukhari & Dr Ikramul Haq Fiscal consolidation should be as growth-friendly as possible. In general, tax base-broadening reforms are identified as growth-oriented reforms. To the extent that they reduce distortions in economic decisions on work, saving, investment and consumption, they should increase output and improve social welfare—Choosing a Broad Base–Low Rate Approach to Taxation,...Read More

Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq The debates and discourses concerning political economy of tax reforms in Pakistan lack objective analyses and rational approach as evident from the latest World Bank Pakistan Raises Revenue (PRR) Project wherein an appraisal paper, it has termed “vested interests lobbying for tax exemptions, internal tensions and wariness of change...Read More

Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq Presently, all broad-based and buoyant sources of revenue are with the federal government and contribution of provinces in total tax revenues is merely 6 percent—in overall national revenue base (tax and non-tax revenue) it is around eight percent. This has made them totally dependent on the federal government for...Read More

Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq The government of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI), as per reports, is “trying its best to fill the gaps in the economy through new ways of revenue collection”. The recent idea “after the research of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is to tax all high-end individuals who are paying meager...Read More