Opponents get ready to submit tax record

KHARAN: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi Saturday said the recently announced ‘revolutionary tax reforms’ would bring in record resources to the national economy and lead the country to self-dependence and those criticising the initiative should first make public their last year’s tax details.Addressing a public gathering after inaugurating Khuzdar-Shahdadkot road and launching work on Kharan-Yakmach road here, the prime minister said the tax reforms would make the people join course of national development by paying taxes and proving their patriotism.

He was accompanied by federal ministers Lt General (R) Abdul Qadir Baloch, Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo, Hafiz Abdul Karim and National Highway Authority (NHA) chairman who also briefed the prime minister on importance and scope of the projects.

He said that the politics of abuses would bury in July after the general elections.

“There is no room for criticism on it. I question them as what they are criticising for — over reduction of tax rates,” he asked the opponents.

The prime minister, who earlier unveiled the plaques of two mega projects worth Rs25 billion along with Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo and the federal ministers, said the critics would meet their political fate if they told the masses that they were opposing the initiative of reducing tax rates and making people prove their patriotism by supporting the government in running the state affairs.

He said previous governments always increased tax rates but it was the PML-N government that reduced these by more than half.

“It has been experimented worldwide that people do not pay 36 percent taxes and when resourceful people evade taxes, the poor have to bear the brunt in the form of indirect taxation on daily use commodities,” he maintained.

He said the tax reforms were meant to shift burden of indirect taxes from the poor to those who were not paying taxes despite earning millions.

Apprising the gathering about his Friday’s visit to Kabul, the prime minister said that they discussed thoroughly Afghan issue with local leadership and told them that no country desired peace in Afghanistan more than Pakistan.

He said military solution failed to resolve issue during last thirty years.

The solution lay only in dialogue among all Afghan stakeholders and Pakistan would extend all-out support to the process as an obligation.

He hoped that if Afghan side also showed the sincerity like Pakistan, peace could be restored in that country.

He said his visit to Afghanistan would prove to be a milestone for the bilateral ties and regional peace as it had helped overcome the trust deficit to a great extent.

“The discussion was held in a cordial atmosphere and we hope that this visit will prove to be a milestone for Pak-Afghan relations and peace in the region,” he said.

He said now the leadership from both the sides would have to prove their sincerity for the prosperity of the region as well as the people with their actions.

He said during his meetings with the Afghan leadership including President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan chief Gulbadin Hekmatyar and others, it was agreed that there could be no military solution to the Afghan issue.

He said it was also agreed that peace and stability in Afghanistan was essential for Pakistan and the people of Afghanistan for what both the countries should jointly work.

He said the Afghan stakeholders must find out a solution to the issue by joining heads and Pakistan would extend its support to restore peace in the country.

He said it had also been decided to continue working on connectivity projects like roads, rail and power transmission, besides discussing water issues. Work on the TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India Pipeline) project was already underway, he added.

The prime minister said both the sides had agreed to jointly work on the projects for the prosperity of people in the region and to help Central Asian States use Gwadar Port while passing through Afghanistan.