Islamabad: Analyst Shahbaz Rana says that the government’s focus on collecting taxes is not going to the places where it should go.
The problems are there. One thing that has been going on since 2011-12 is that those who are not a formal part of Pakistan’s tax system, are not registered or do not file their returns regularly, action should be taken against them. In 2013-14, a new concept of non-filers came.
The Tax Law Amendment Bill 2024-25 has been presented in the National Assembly with a delay of two months. The creator of the bill is Chairman FBR Rashid Mahmood Langrial. Through this, the government is preparing to further tighten the noose around non-filers. He believes that the measures proposed in the bill will force people to come into the tax net. Speaking on Express News’ The Review program, he said that the terms filer and non-filer have now been replaced by the terms eligible and ineligible taxpayers. Those who are eligible will be able to do only certain transactions. An ineligible person will not be able to buy a vehicle exceeding 800 cc.
His property will not be registered. He will not be able to buy shares in the stock market above a certain limit. What its value will be is yet to be decided. If this bill is passed by the National Assembly, he will be allowed to buy motorcycles, rickshaws, buses, trucks and tractors. To a question, he said that Pakistan’s current account surplus is coming because imports are controlled.
Analyst Kamran Yousaf said that the government has introduced the Tax Law Amendment Bill 25-2024 in the National Assembly, which aims to improve tax collection and has proposed some measures for this, which if this bill becomes a law, then there may be a lot of difficulties for people who do not file annual returns. They will not be able to buy property or vehicles. There are also some proposals in the bill that may make it difficult for you to make some purchases even if you are a filer. He said that this week the US has imposed more restrictions on Pakistan’s long-range missile program.
Of the four companies that have been banned, three are private, while one is a government-owned company, the National Development Complex, which oversees Pakistan’s missile program. Banning this complex is like banning the state of Pakistan. US Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Faiz has alleged that Pakistan’s missile program has the ability to hit targets outside South Asia.
The US also considers this a threat to itself. From what I have spoken to various people, the US has a problem and concern with Pakistan’s space program. Because Pakistan is working on a space launch vehicle.
He further said that the program that Pakistan signed with the IMF had several conditions, one of which was that Pakistan would not establish any new special economic zones or export processing zones, nor would existing special economic zones or export processing zones be given concessions upon their expiry. It was said that the aim of this was to target China.
