Fixing the tax system
The finance minister has presented the federal budget for 2013-14. While containing several positive elements, such as a desire to reduce the fiscal deficit by 2.5 per cent of GDP,…
Finance Bill 2013: Meaningful suggestions
Senate Standing Committee on Finance sent a number of meaningful, though unbinding, recommendations to the National Assembly on 21st June, 2013. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar ignored all of them while…
Revenue targets for 2013-14
According to Press reports, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is not going to collect even Rs 2000 billion against the target of Rs 2381 billion fixed in budget 2012-13,…
Challenges and opportunities
Arrangements made for re-polling at 43 stations in NA-250 showed the ECP and the Army the difference such arrangements could have made to the May 11 election results whose authenticity…
Inadvisably hurried polls
In democracies (especially those supposedly threatened by military take-overs), the key concern of democratic regimes, when in power, should be to manage the affairs of the state in a manner…
Questions needing answers
The coalition partners, who ruled Pakistan during the past five years, claim (except MQM) that their term in office marked the epitome of democracy because it undid what 'dictator' Musharraf…
Punctured tax base
The Chairman of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), while talking to Associated Press of Pakistan on 17th February 2012, conceded that "Pakistan has one of the lowest tax-to-GDP ratios in…
Crumbling tax system
Taxes play a vital role for establishing an egalitarian society, the true fruit of social democracy. Under a representative and responsible government, citizens are taxed according to their ability (at…
Rocking the republic
A major religious party leader was unable to recite the sixth kalma. A Wharton MBA was able to successfully belt out the Fajr azaan. There were questions to candidates about…
The roots of terrorism
A Cursory analysis of the Stary Global Terrorism Database reveals that over the past decade, Pakistan has had the highest number of terrorismrelated deaths in the world. In fact, the…
