The step by government to make national identity card number as the national tax number is a good one, but the thing is that it’s not enough at all and is a start. Hardly anybody pays taxes here and the ones who pay, pay it by force as the tax get deducted at the source from their salaries. Traders, farmers, shop-keepers and many others don’t pay tax at all. The employees of armed forces, bureaucracy and many other public sector organizations enjoy tax breaks and tax let offs because of many loopholes. The whole system of tax collection is rotten at the core. The minister for finance, Ishaq Dar has certainly worked hard over the last year and has managed to steer Pakistan clear of bankruptcy but he needs to do more in realms of tax.
That is a very unpopular thing to do and the whole government needs iron heart to implement that. PML-N’s core constituency is the traders and they have to have a lion’s heart to tax on their own voting community. With Imran Khan ready to go to any length and any low to dislodge the government, this will be a very very hard decision to take and seems unlikely unfortunately. The statistics show that a shortfall of Rs 196 billion in revenue collection is expected this year and the government has taken measures to reduce it by Rs 46 billion by imposing additional tax. Federal Board of Revenue has once again proven its incompetency. If PML-N cannot tax its trading community, at least it can overhaul the tax department or is it too much to ask?