Tax: coercive & unconstitutional
Huzaima Bukhari“However good a Constitution may be, if those who are implementing it are not good, it will prove to be bad. However bad a Constitution may be, if those implementing it are good, it will prove to be good”—B.R….
Tax Gap: Myth & Reality
Dr. Ikramul Haq In a study uploaded on its website, titled Tax Gap Report 2022[“the Report’], the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) claims that its in-house researchers (sic!) have adopted “the top-down and bottom-up approaches to estimate the tax gap”. The…
Pakistan & Corruption Perception Index 2022
Time for deep introspectionDr. Ikramul Haq & Abdul Rauf ShakooriIntegrity, Transparency, and the fight against corruption have to be part of the culture. They have to be taught as a fundamental value—Angel Gurria, OECD Secretary-GeneralLeaders can fight corruption and promote…
Taxes, inflation & public welfare
Dr. Ikramul HaqThe Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has achieved a milestone of collecting for the first times taxes of Rs. 3.965 trillion in the first seven months of the current fiscal year, for which its top management, the entire…
Pakistani nation & resilience!
Huzaima Bukhari“The oak fought the wind and was broken, the willow bent when it must and survived”—Robert JordanIf asked to name one nation in the world that surpasses all levels of resilience, one usually comes up with “Japanese” but according…
Mitigating climate change risks
Huzaima Bukhari, DR. Ikramul Haq & Abdul Rauf ShakooriGlacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) represent a major hazard and can result in significant loss of life. Globally, since 1990, the number and size of glacial lakes has grown rapidly along with…
FBR, IMF & revenue targets
Huzaima Bukhari, Dr. Ikramul Haq & Abdul Rauf ShakooriThe federal budget for fiscal year (FY) 2022-23 assigned an ambitious target of Rs. 7.470 trillion to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) which includes both direct and indirect taxes. The revenue…
Prudent fiscal management
Dr. Ikramul HaqUndoubtedly, Pakistan is presently facing the worst multidimensional economic crisis of its history. From serious dollar crunch to monstrous debt burden, historic high inflation to exorbitant discount rate, widening fiscal deficit to unsustainable debt servicing, vulnerabilities on external…
Of assets declaration & IMF bailouts
Dr. Ikramul Haq & Abdul Rauf Shakoori“Priority measures include the establishment of an asset declaration system with a focus on high-level public officials (including federal cabinet members) (end-March 2022 SB) [SB is structural benchmark], reset to end-September 2022), and publication…