The digital tax question
Instant cross-border transactions, digital payments, streaming entertainment with just a tap, sourcing products from online marketplaces or exploring newly launched cryptocurrencies, all this and more is part of the future…
Zakat with receipt, tax without one
Pakistanis are famously generous. Ask any uncle at iftar and he’ll tell you how much he gave this year. But when it comes to the state, that generosity mysteriously evaporates.…
Pakistan’s tax trap
Pakistan’s economy remains stuck in a low-growth equilibrium, sustained by short-term revenue grabs that masquerade as reform but steadily suffocate investment, innovation and exports. Under pressure from the IMF to…
The politics of easy taxation
Pakistan’s tax debate is usually framed as a technical puzzle: how to raise more revenue, faster, under pressure. That framing misses the real story. The country does not suffer from…
The cars will lead to the tax
Pakistan’s tax-to-GDP ratio has stayed stuck between 9.0 and 10 per cent for years. This is one of the lowest ratios in the world. Yet, the purchase of luxury goods…
High taxes, low incomes
Every government complains that people avoid paying income taxes; hence, the number of income taxpayers in the country has always remained very small. This year, the government took pride in…
Tax-to-GDP ratio: flawed debate
There has been persistent pressure on successive Pakistani Governments by policymakers, especially those affiliated with multilateral donor agencies, to increase the Percentage Tax-to-GDP ratio. It is true, that the fiscal…
FBR revenue target
The FBR revenue target always features as a key indicative target in the review process of IMF Programmes. The level of FBR revenues is also a key determinant of the…
Federalised tax reform strategy
The Constitution (Eighteenth Amend-ment) Act, 2010, [18th Amendment], became effective on April 19, 2010, brought a major shift in Pakistan’s fiscal and administrative architecture. With principal objective of granting greater…
Wealth tax is a bad idea
Economists and academics continually seek innovative tax ideas. Led by international financial institutions (IFIs) and their consultants, the prevailing goal in many studies is to tax everything in sight. A…
