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,…
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 Einstein Considering the volatile situation of the world in general and the extraordinary political mismanagement in the Third World in particular along…
Tax system for growth & prosperity
Dr. Ikramul Haq The real dilemma of our tax system is that it is highly inequitable. The burden of taxes is less on the rich and more on the middle-class and the poor. In the face of this stark reality,…
Tax system for growth & prosperity
Dr. Ikramul Haq The real dilemma of our tax system is that it is highly inequitable. The burden of taxes is less on the rich and more on the middle-class and the poor. In the face of this stark reality,…
Distorted tax base & oppressive exaction
Huzaima Bukhari & Dr Ikramul Haq Fiscal consolidation should be as growth-friendly as possible. In general, tax base-broadening reforms are identified as growth-oriented reforms. To the extent that they reduce distortions in economic decisions on work, saving, investment and consumption,…
Political economy of tax reforms—I
Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq The debates and discourses concerning political economy of tax reforms in Pakistan lack objective analyses and rational approach as evident from the latest World Bank Pakistan Raises Revenue (PRR) Project wherein an appraisal paper,…
Existing tax structure & fiscal restraints
Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq Presently, all broad-based and buoyant sources of revenue are with the federal government and contribution of provinces in total tax revenues is merely 6 percent—in overall national revenue base (tax and non-tax revenue) it…
Making FBR efficient
Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq The government of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI), as per reports, is “trying its best to fill the gaps in the economy through new ways of revenue collection”. The recent idea “after the research of the…
Overcoming debt enslavement
Huzaima Bukhari & Dr Ikramul Haq “The central government’s debt increased at a double-digit pace to Rs. 32.1 trillion by the end of November [2019], an addition of a whopping Rs. 5.7 trillion in just one year, as the Pakistan…