‘MPs should pay tax to promote tax culture’

LAHORE: Political leadership and parliamentarians should pay taxes to promote tax culture so that people may follow their footsteps while discouraging corruption in tax collecting agencies can increase revenue and taxpayers in the country.
These views were expressed by stakeholders at Jang Economic Session on “Why to promote tax culture.” The panellists were Dr Salman Shah, Haji Ahmed, Abdul Basit Khan, Asif Baig Mirza, Kh Khalid Niaz and Abdul Razzaq Babar. The session was hosted by Sikandar Lodhi.
Dr Salman Shah said Pakistan is at 120 positions in the world in wasting resources on unnecessary expenditures. He said the government should focus on energy and water projects to resolve economic issues rather long-term infrastructure projects. He said tax culture cannot be promoted without controlling misuse of resources. He said the government should curtail non-development expenditures, construct Kalabagh Dam, focus on tax reforms, spate development and non-development expenditures. He suggested that agriculture tax should be collected by local governments and spent on community development.
Haji Ahmed said tax to GDP ratio is stagnant at 9 percent in Pakistan which is condemnable while good governance can help promote tax culture. He said majority of taxpayers are not paying taxes properly. He said due to corruption in tax collecting agencies traders and non-taxpayers are not willing to cooperate with them. He stressed the need for making the taxation law easy. He said tax awareness should be included in the curriculum to encourage the young generation to pay taxes.
Abdul Basit Khan said corruption and weak tax collection system is damaging Pakistan’s image globally. He said political leadership should be united in tax collection. He said the traders are the important part of society so they should not be treated unjustly. He said if everyone pays its due taxes then there is no need for new taxes.
Asif Baig Mirza said the government should equally expand the tax net while corruption is increasing in tax collection due to high tax rate and loopholes in the system. He called discouraging tax evasion to improve economic conditions, besides curtailing non-development expenditures. He said the government should develop balanced tax policy, expand tax net and take steps to increase national resources.
Kh Khalid Niaz said economic condition of Pakistan does not allow the rulers to be involved in extravagant expenses. He said if the government will not stop non-development expenditures, debt burden further increases. He said the government should introduce public welfare schemes to promote tax culture. He said tax reforms will strengthen the tax culture.
Abdul Razzaq Babar said traders and businessmen are willing to pay tax but there is need to change the orthodox taxation system of Pakistan. He said corruption exists in taxation system. He said tax collection should be started from the top to promote tax culture and increase revenue. He said the current government’s tax collection producer is incorrect as tax on banking transactions is injustice. He said such taxation measure will create law and order and increase crime rate.