Faulty policies, weak enforcement
Dr. Ikramul HaqWhile 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…
Tribute to selflessness!
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…
Need for new income tax law
Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul HaqWhen 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…
Practice, what you preach!
Huzaima Bukhari“What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say”—Ralph Waldo EmersonThere can be no question about the fact that everyone judges everyone although, most of the time, the judged pretend not to care about what…
Unconstitutional petroleum levy
Dr. Ikramul HaqThe 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…
Tax base & filers
Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul HaqAccording 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…
Political economy of tax reforms—II
Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul HaqThe 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…
Returns filers: contradictory numbers
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…
Religion—why fight over it?
Huzaima Bukhari“True religion is real living; living with all one’s soul, with all one’s goodness and righteousness”—Albert EinsteinConsidering the volatile situation of the world in general and the extraordinary political mismanagement in the Third World in particular along with rampant…