Productive tax reforms
Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq All efforts in the name of tax reforms undertaken in Pakistan till today have miserably failed. These were nothing but mere patchworks here and there. Restructuring and redesigning of tax system has not been…
Political economy of tax exclusions
Dr. Ikramul Haq The tax codes of Pakistan at the federal level—Sales Tax Act, 1990, Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, Customs Act, 1969 and Federal Excise Act, 2005—contain numerous exemptions and concessions, majority of these were added, modified or withdrawn through…
Soreness in society
Huzaima Bukhari “A sick society must think much about politics, as a sick man must think much about his digestion.”—CR Lewis (1898-1963), British writer and lay theologian “I contend that most emotional distress is best understood as a rational response…
Reluctant return filers
Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq “FBR has until 10.10.2018 received 482,275 Income Tax returns for the Tax Year 2018, which are 170,208 more than the 312,067 Income Tax returns received for Tax Year 2017 by the same date, registering…
Tax Directory 2016—Analysis
The top 500 companies in Pakistan paid Rs 364.325 billion in taxes during 2016-17. Out of 79,728 companies included in the Tax Directory 2016-17, about 32,943 of them paid no tax and 22,312 paid less than Rs 1 million in…
Pending cases in Courts of Pakistan (as of 30.09.2018)
PendencyNo. of JudgesCase per JudgeSupreme Court of Pakistan40,243172367Federal Shariat Court422584Lahore High Court, Lahore165,515562956High Court of Sindh, Karachi92,169342710Peshawar High Court, Peshawar29,624171743High Court of Balochistan, Quetta6,8428855Islamabad High Court17,08553417District Courts, Punjab1,095,5421291848District Courts, Sindh101,059359282District Courts, KPK209,984313671District Courts, Balochistan13,96917182District Courts, Islamabad36,29149568TOTAL1,810,7452,325779
Of taxpayers & non-filers
Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq Millions of Pakistanis by virtue of over 65 types of withholding taxes imposed under the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, both adjustable and non-adjustable, are paying advance income tax but only a fraction of them…
Forces of terrorism & obscurantism
Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq One should never forget the ghastly and cowardly attack of September 15, 2013 by Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) on Major General Sanaullah Khan, Lieutenant Colonel Tauseef Ahmad and Sepoy Irfan Sattar. The deadly incident exposed hollowness…
Politics of obscurantism
Dr. Ikramul Haq We lost East Wing (Mushraqi Pakistan) in 1971 due to sheer shortsightedness and highhandedness of ruling military junta and its political cronies. In the name of defending “ideological frontiers”, the generals not only gave away big land…