It is heartening to note that Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is planning to launch a scheme on national level to provide an opportunity to the owners of smuggled goods to legalise non-duty paid items through payment of duties/taxes and fine/default surcharge. According to a Business Recorder news report, as per estimates, the volume of smuggled-prone items ranges from $9 to $10 billion per annum.
That smuggling constitutes a huge challenge to country's economy is a fact that cannot be taken in a casual or non-serious manner. Unfortunately, however, successive governments have done little or nothing to deal with this challenge in a meaningful manner. There is no denying the fact that country's porous borders at some points hurt our law enforcement authorities' efforts check this menace in an effective manner.
A long-term strategy based on ground realities could be a solution in this regard. Providing an opportunity to the owners of smuggled goods to legalise their items on certain rates of payments appears to be a "creative" step being contemplated by the incumbent FBR chairman. I wish him success in his endeavours.
Comments
Comments are closed.