FBR chairman says manufacturing sector bearing burden of taxes

• Shabbar says manufacturing sector pays almost 70 per cent tax.
• The FBR chairman says tax generation from other sectors is not up to the mark and is lowest.
• Every sector has to pay at least 25 per cent tax: Zaidi.

(Karachi) FBR Chairman Shabbar Zaidi has said that the entire burden of taxes is on the manufacturing sector which amounts to 70 per cent.

Addressing an event in Islamabad on Tuesday, Zaidi said that every sector has to pay at least 25 per cent tax but the manufacturing sector is paying the most taxes.

He said, “We have to improve and increase our tax net on immediate basis.” The FBR chairman said tax generation from other sectors is not up to the mark and is lowest. He said the entire tax system needs urgent reforms.

Earlier in his briefing to media, Shabbar said the government is working on documentation of economy to increase the tax net by bringing more sales tax filers in a bid to improve the economy.

The FBR official stated that the sales tax filers in Pakistan are low as only 41,000 people file sales tax in the country.

He added the government was carrying out efforts for documentation of economy in an attempt to register as many people as possible and bring them into the tax net.

The FBR chief mentioned that the government received tax refund claims of Rs 25 billion. He said despite decline in country's exports by 5.5 billion dollars, the revenue increased. He said FBR is working to address issues regarding submission forms of export refunds.

Shabbar Zaidi mentioned that there are only 325 companies which are contributing 85 percent of the revenue collection through taxes.

He pointed out that the number of return filers went up by 50 percent but their contribution into revenues was not in line with number of increased returns.