"There is a huge room for increased tax generation"
S Akbar Zaidi, senior economist
"The process of consultations on NFC is getting smoother. We seem to have progressed and learnt a few lessons during the past few decades.
The passage of the 18th amendment and continuation in the democratic process reflects that. The debates, agreements and disagreements over the issue between the stakeholders are part of the process.
The current NFC award will be delayed due to Imran Khan’s dharnas which continued for months, derailing the whole economic development of the country. Had there been no dharnas, the NFC award would not have been delayed.
Also, our taxation system, which forms the basis of revenue collection, has a huge room for improvement. We hugely rely on indirect taxation which is a huge burden on the common man.
The federal government is issuing Statutory Regulatory Orders (SROs) and tax exemptions. They are trying to broaden the tax net but those already under the tax net are not paying. There is a huge room for increasing tax generation and the number of tax payers for a better basis of revenue collection and resource distribution."
"7th NFC award was welcomed by the provinces"
Dr Hasan Askari, political analyst
"As we know, until the 7th NFC award, population was the only criteria. But by that time, in view of the provincial pressures, e.g., from Balochistan, the political leadership realised that factors other than population should be taken into account as well in making the NFC.
Grievances have been addressed to a certain extent. But provinces are promised allocations that are not fully delivered to them. That needs to be addressed. The question is how to win the provinces’ trust.
Formation of Provincial Finance Commissions (PFCs) is a demand that should be made a constitutional provision by legislating on it. It is also a concern that all districts are not treated equally within a province.
One has to read the 7th NFC award and the 18th amendment together. But there are still issues, such as in the 18th amendment it has been suggested that the federation and the provinces will have a roughly 50-50 control over the natural resources. But the provinces, especially Balochistan, claim there is no clarity as to how this provision will be implemented and transparency ensured.
In the past, the issue of population and other factors was raised by the provinces but it was not given weight by the federation. Then I think there came a time when the provincial pressure increased to a considerable extent."
"All districts not treated equally within a province"
Maula Bakhsh Chandio, Vice President, PPP Sindh
"The federation had not addressed provinces’ complaints and issues regarding the NFC awards even after 60 years. It was the PPP government whose 7th NFC award was welcomed by the provinces for the first time.
Their concerns were addressed in the last NFC award. Even Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had to say that Punjab sacrificed for smaller provinces. That meant something had really changed.
There still are issues of implementation of decisions and transparency which can be solved but I think a beginning has been made despite the fact that provinces are not happy for the delay in the new NFC award."