Self-respect: A nation’s pride
Huzaima Bukhari“Nationalist pride, like other variants of pride, can be a substitute for self-respect”—Eric HofferWay back in the 1960s, during our primary school days, our textbooks contained stories of children belonging to different provinces, even Bengalis when East Pakistan was…
Budget 2021: Taxes, Inflation, Growth & IMF
Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul HaqThe biggest challenge on tax mobilisation front faced by Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is bridging monstrous tax gap through automation and introduction of tax intelligence system and not levying more taxes or enhancing the…
PTI, FBR & ‘tax directories’
Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul HaqFailure of the coalition of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) vis-à-vis economic governance, changing four finance ministers and five chairpersons of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) during its tenure since August 2018 has been in the media…
Uprooting Corruption: Lessons from China
Dr. Ikramul HaqAfter taking oath of 22nd Prime Minister of the country on August 18, 2018, Imran Khan has visited China three times (2018-2020 every year) during his 33 months in power. After the first visit to Saudi Arabia, which…
When mob kills one person
Huzaima Bukhari“Every unpunished murder takes away something from the security of every man’s life”—Daniel WebsterOver time, this nation has developed a rather peculiar tradition. Whenever politicians are arrested or summoned before the courts, they rally huge crowds, usually armed with…
Tax directory of all
Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq‘All lawmakers are taxpayers’—Finance Minister, Ishaq Dar, Business Recorder, January 7, 2014On the first day of 2014, the Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), while appearing before Public Accounts Committee, offered an illegal, rather obnoxious…
FBR’s data analysis
Dr. Ikramul HaqThe Federal Board of Revenue has released four documents in September 2020, namely, ‘FBR Year Book for 2019-20’, ‘Parliamentarians’ Tax Directory for Tax Year 2018’, ‘Tax Directory of all Taxpayers for Tax Year 2018’ and ‘Tax Directory Analysis…
FATF & Pakistan
Need for adopting risk-based approachHuzaima Bukhari, Dr. Ikramul Haq & Abdul Rauf ShakooriThe importance of risk-based approach in curtailing the movement of illicit flows of funds is paramount. The significance of this approach is also stressed in recommendations of Financial…
Determining fair income-tax base
Dr Ikramul HaqAccording to the latest data available on the website of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), the total number of cellular subscribers as on January 31, 2021 were 180 million (84% teledensity), out of which 95 million were 3G/4G subscribers…