ISLAMABAD: The government was committed to expand tax net, by bringing more persons who were liable to pay income tax in it, said Parliamentary Secretary for Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Privatization Rana Muhammad Afzal in the National Assembly on Monday.
Responding to a questions, he said as many as 120,000 liable persons were sent notices for the payment of income tax, out of which 17,000 paid tax.
The government was still trying its level best to further re-invigorate the tax system that would help bringing economic stability in the country, he added.
He said the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had launched an initiative to bring persons, who were liable to pay income tax, in the tax net. For this purpose data was being collected regarding persons purchasing real estate property in posh areas, expensive motor vehicles, incurring heavy utility bills and school fees or engaged in taxable business activities, he added.
He informed that the FBR had collected a total of Rs. 249.218 million tax from the four regional tax offices, including Rawalpindi Rs. 26.594, Sargodha Rs. 3.198, Sialkot Rs. 1.169 and Sukkur Rs. 0.524 million. He said that all the National Assembly members were tax payers.
Responding to another question, the parliamentary secretary apprised the House that at present the Economic Affairs Division had the record of 127 international NGOs working in Pakistan.
He maintained that these NGOs worked under an MoU that determined that these NGOs would work in accordance with the law of the land.
To yet another question, the secretary stated no tax had been levied on education equipment during the year 2013-14 while only a minor tax was charged on computers only.
Rana Afzal told the House that no legislation was under consideration for setting up dry ports near the borders to increase the exports.
In a written reply to a question, Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar told the National Assembly that the outstanding amount of external debt had decreased by $3,245 million during the last two years - from May 1, 2012 to April 30, 2014.
According to the details, the major countries details for disbursement of external loans during this period included China $1,745, Japan $291 and Saudi Arabia $219 million.
Meanwhile, a total domestic loans obtained by the government during the said period was Rs. 3,600 billion. These included Rs. 1,947 billion of permanent loans, Rs. 1,104 billion of floating loans while Rs. 549 billion of unfunded loans, the minister added.
The minister further stated that the status of external and internal loans outstanding against the government as at end April, 2014 was Rs. 15,851 billion, comprising Rs. 10,896 billion of domestic loans and Rs 4,954 billion of external loans, which also include $50.3 billion.
He said that the present government was determined to enhance debt repayment capacity through resource mobilization efforts and increase in tax to GDP ratio from its current level of 9.8 per cent of 2012-13 to around 12.9 per cent of GDP by 2016-17.
Ishaq Dar informed the House that the government had also taken various measures during the year to boost economic activities, build foreign exchange reserves, gain international investors' confidence and achieve fiscal discipline.
In another written reply, about the government's achievements to reduce budget deficit through austerity, the Finance Minister replied that 30 per cent cut had been imposed on expenditure excluding debt servicing, defence, payment and allowances, subsidies and grants.
Revenue collection and expenditure were being monitored on monthly basis while efforts were being made to avoid un-budgeted expenditure, he added.
Responding to question about the details of agreements made with International Monetary Fund (IMF) relating to PIA and Pakistan Steel Mills for the next three years, the minister said that the government would privatize 26 per cent of PIA's shares to strategic investors by the end of 2014.
He went on saying that the government had appointed a financial advisor by end June 2014 for restructuring while PIA would continue leasing more efficient airplanes and rationalizing routes.
About Pakis Steel Mills, the minister said that a professional board had been appointed, while a comprehensive restructuring plan was approved in April. He expressed the confidence that the reforms would improve efficiency and governance and reduce absorption of public funds.
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