FBR: putting the house in order!
Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq “If we realise that the FBR cannot be fixed, we will create a new FBR. This is because Pakistan’s survival is linked to it. It’s not about our liking or disliking: if our tax…
Finance Act 2020
FBR, tax collection & elite Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq The passage of Finance Bill 2020 by the National Assembly on June 29, 2020, amid protest by the Opposition, claim by Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) of exceeding the…
Finance Act 2020—I
Lack of initiatives & innovations Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq The adoption of Finance Bill 2020 on June 29, 2020 and exceeding the target by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for fiscal year (FY) 2019-20 was an achievement…
Ethics—a fading trend
Huzaima Bukhari “A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world”—Albert Camus On 2 December 2012, Spanish athlete Iván Fernández Anaya was competing in a cross-country race in Burlada, Navarre, a municipality of Spain. He was running…
USA: valiant struggle for liberation & justice
A majority of white Americans still cannot come to terms with what black people have known forever: Racism is systemic, systematic, and nowhere near gone. White America must step up not just for peace, but for justice— Systemic racism is…
Unconstitutional petroleum levy
Dr. Ikramul Haq The Government of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on June 26, 2020 to utter surprise and dismay of all increased the prices of all petroleum products substantially—it is usually done on the first day of every month after a…
Learning to unlearn the learnt!
Huzaima Bukhari “We now know that sex is complicated enough that we have to admit nature doesn’t draw the line for us between male and female, or between male and intersex and female and intersex; we actually draw that line…
PTI’s failure on fiscal front
Dr. Ikramul Haq “The FBR contributes around 80% of the total revenues of the federal government; therefore, any miscalculation or misstargeting can severely cripple the budget, not just of the federal but the provincial governments as well”—Budget 2020-21: Highlights &…
The menace of red-tape
Huzaima Bukhari “But there will be no justice, there will be no government of the people, by the people, and for the people, as long as the government and its officials permit bribery in any form”—John Jay Hooker Someone once…