PM lays focus on tax reforms, sell-off process

ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on Wednesday directed all relevant institutions to work together for tax reforms as increasing tax collection is the foremost priority of the government.

While presiding over a high-level meeting regarding the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Privatisation Division, he emphasized the need for improving relations between the federation and the provinces regarding tax documentation

The caretaker premier said that increasing the tax net is one of the priorities of the government and the FBR is an important part of the government machinery.

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He further stated that the process of privatization of such state-owned corporations (SOEs) which are going into loss should be accelerated by fulfilling all the legal requirements and all federal ministries should fully cooperate with the Privatisation Division.

The FBR officials, while briefing the meeting, stated that the FBR is determined to fulfil the tax collection target of Rs9,415 billion given by the government.

The meeting was informed that the FBR collected Rs538 billion against the target of Rs534 billion for July 2023, while revenues of Rs669 billion was collected against the target of Rs648 billion for August 2023.

The meeting was further told that digital initiatives are being worked on to increase the tax-GDP rate. The FBR’s database is being linked with other institutions to expand the tax net. The FBR is working on a target of bringing one million new taxpayers into the system and 182,000 new taxpayers were brought into the system this year.

The scope of Point of Sales (PoS) is being extended to more cities and retailers on a priority basis.

The meeting was also informed that efforts are being made to add 20,000 retailers to POS this year.

The meeting was further told that a strategy is being made on the Integrated Transit Trade Management System. The work on customs digitization is going on and the Pakistan Single Window is being connected with more government institutions.

The Privatization Division informed the meeting that all the legal requirements regarding the privatisation of the institutions are being fulfilled.

Caretaker Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Dr Shamshad Akhtar, Advisor to the caretaker Prime Minister, Ahad Cheema, federal secretary finance, federal secretary aviation, federal secretary privatization, chairman FBR and other relevant government officials participated in the meeting.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023