Policies for growth & employment
Dr. Ikramul HaqThe main focus of a rational tax policy should be on incentivising investment and productivity, encouraging savings and facilitating capital formation in the private sector for job creations, innovations and rapid economic development. Our policymakers have miserably failed…
On being alone or lonely
Huzaima Bukhari“If you are lonely when you’re alone, you are in bad company”— Jean Paul Sartre We come to this world alone and are left alone after we pass away but throughout the period in between we yearn for the company…
Banking secrecy v benami law
Dr. Ikramul HaqThe Finance Minister of Pakistan, while addressing a gathering of State Bank of Pakistan on April 1, 2019, asked banks to share data with Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for effective implementation of Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 2017. The…
Hats off to Jacinda Ardern!
Huzaima Bukhari“What the statesman is most anxious to produce is a certain moral character in his fellow citizens, namely a disposition to virtue and the performance of virtuous actions”—AristotleOn 11 September 2001, New York was jolted by attacks on the…
Banking secrecy v benami law
Dr. Ikramul HaqThe Finance Minister of Pakistan, while addressing a gathering of State Bank of Pakistan on April 1, 2019, stressed the need that banks should share data with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for effective implementation of Benami…
Defusing the POL bomb
Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul HaqRising need of petroleum and its heavy taxation leaves the common man stripped of his earnings, and renders the lives of the poor more miserable than before, but despite all these, brings in super duper…
Overcoming fiscal woes
Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul HaqThe Prime Minister, Imran Khan, once an admirer of fiscal devolution under Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010 [18th Amendment] has now criticised it by saying that it “has made the federation bankrupt”. No doubt, the…
NFC Award: Challenges & Solutions
Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq“By withdrawing tax measures through Statutory Regulatory Orders (SROs), the government is subverting the budget”—Dr. Kaiser Bengali, a noted economist and technical member, National Finance Commission from Sindh.According to a Press report, the fifth meeting…
Black economy and tax losses
Dr. Ikramul HaqTackling the twin menaces of black money and tax evasion has always been a challenge and failure in Pakistan. The study, ‘What is hidden, in the hidden economy of Pakistan? Size, causes, issues and implications’, by Ahmed Gulzar, …