The tax highway

One of the quickest ways to get people to pay tax is to use a carrot and stick approach. If one is a tax filer and owns a 1300 cc and above vehicle s/he would be issued an e-tag which would allow him/her to use the motorways for free. Such people would get priority over others by passing through the toll plaza using the special lane for e-tag users. On the other hand, if a person is not a filer but can afford to buy a 1300 cc and above vehicle, it means that s/he is not paying taxes according to their income bracket. For such persons, the use of motorways should be banned till they register themselves as tax filers. In the interim period, say three months, they should be charged three times the toll tax for using the motorway. This would incur the least amount of effort by the FBR as non-filers would be forced to become filers.

Syed Hussein El-Edroos

Islamabad