Helplessness—a human tragedy?
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…
Forgotten suo motu case
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…
Need for all-out reforms
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…
Faulty policies, weak enforcement
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…
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…
Need for new income tax law
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…
Practice, what you preach!
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…
Unconstitutional petroleum levy
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…
Tax base & filers
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…