‘Improve taxation to resolve economic issues’

LAHORE :Malaysian Economic Model 1980 and Chinese growth model can be helpful to put the economy on right path and sacrifice of political interests and unwanted desires is necessary to achieve the goal. 

These views were expressed by the experts at Jang Economic Session: “How to improve economic situation”. The panellists were Tahir Javeed, Imtiaz Cheema, Dr Ikram-ul-Haq, Jamshed Iqbal, Jahanzaib Mirza and Sajida Mir. The session was hosted by Sikindar Lodhi. Tahir Javeed said all successive governments failed to evolve and implement effective economic policies due to which Pakistan could not make progress according to its potential.

He said majority of population is paying withholding taxes on mobile phone use, bank accounts and imports while direct taxes are 33 percent and 70 percent is comprised of withholding tax which is discouraging tax returns fillings. He called for reducing tax burden to expand tax-net.

Imtiaz Cheema said Pakistan was under fiscal and trade deficits pressure and if the situation persisted, unemployment will increase. He said expenditure will increase due to election year. He said IMF hinted at better economic situation, attaching it with implementation of CPEC successfully.

Dr Ikram-ul-Haq said imbalance between income and expenditure had affected the economy. He said loans were taken in the world for productivity projects, but in Pakistan loans were never used for long-term projects, putting pressure on economy. He said economic indicators are alarming, which demands to review economy realistically. He said number of economic issues could be resolved by improving taxation system and reducing unnecessary imports. 

Jamshed Iqbal said the performance of the government economic reforms was disappointing. Increasing debt burden and energy crisis are increasing cost of production which is badly affecting the economy, he said and called for increasing employment opportunities and resolving economic issues. 

Jahanzaib Mirza said tourism was an important sector to support the economy and Pakistan should exploit potential of tourism.He said discoursing corruption in every institution to resolve socio-economic issues.

He called for creating women working force by providing good employment opportunities. He called for restructuring public sector enterprises and avoiding privatisation. He said local investment was only 10 per cent which should be increased. Sajida Mir said the country was facing political and economic crises. Debt burden has increased due to ineffective policies, she added.