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…
2019: Review of PTI’s fiscal strategy
Avoiding reforms & imprudent policies Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq An unusual decline in revenue collection and steep rise in current expenditures caused a deterioration in all major fiscal indicators during FY19. The overall budget deficit during the year…
Budget 2020-21: FBR’s tax targets
Over reporting, faulty fixation Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq In document titled, Federal Budget 2020-21: Budget in Brief, revised version presented by Ministry of Finance (MoF) many days after announcement of federal budget for fiscal year (FY) 2020-21…
Child labour—heinous crime continues!
Huzaima Bukhari “We still have a soft approach on the perpetrators of crimes like worst forms of child labour”—Satyarthi Kailash If laws and rules of a country are meant to be broken, especially by those who are their authors, champions,…
Revenuecracy & provincial budgets
Dr. Ikramul Haq The budgets of Punjab and Sindh for fiscal year 2020-21, announced on June 16 and 17, 2020, respectively, have highlighted a pivotal point that all their projections on revenue side depended on the performance of Federal Board…
Morbid taxation: stifling growth of private sector
Case study of telecom industry Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq The Pakistan telecom sector contributes steady inflow of heavy tax collections under major heads like Activation Tax, GST/FED, the PTA fee & charges and others. The PTA has been…
Reconceptualising Jihad
Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq Dr. Ayesha Jalal, eminent historian, in Partisans of Allah: Jihad in South Asia has brilliantly traced the root and dimensions of jihad as anticolonial ideology that helped the subjugated masses under British raj to…
Finance Bill 2020 & data privacy
Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq The Finance Bill 2020, presented along with federal budget for fiscal year 2020-21 on June 12, 2020, contains certain provisions relating to real-time access to Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) of citizens’ data to…
Finance Bill 2020: muzzling right to justice
Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq In the Finance Bill 2020, presented along with federal budget 2020-21, a highly lamentable—rather unconstitutional amendment is proposed—to the effect that for availing right to appeal the aggrieved taxpayer will have to deposit 10…