ISLAMABAD: Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, chairing the Tax Advisory Council meeting, has said that the government has achieved the economic stabilisation in just 20 months, which was planned to be met in 36 months.
The said that the government has decided to take steps in the budget for 2015-16, ensuring further strengthening of the economic gains.
The minister said that results of the economic stabilisation have started appearing at the grassroots level and the government will ensure the incessant trickle down effects by further announcing the budgetary stapes.
“The government is going to gradually erase the SRO culture and is in process of pondering over the effective ways to broaden the tax to GDP ratio,” he said.
Dar said that the government is to make public second parliamentary tax directory on April 10 which is the healthy tradition set by the present regime.
Addressing the Tax Advisory Council, he issued instructions for formation of special committee to suggest ways and means for ease of doing business; a step that is necessary to encourage business, trade as well as investment in the country.
“If we want to enhance business activity, generate more revenue for the national exchequer, we must take measures to enhance ease of doing business and promote value addition”, the minister remarked while addressing a meeting of the Tax Advisory Council at the FBR on Saturday morning. He said there would be across the board representation in this committee as Ministry of Commerce, FBR, BOI, and all relevant departments would be included in it.
Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Tariq Bajwa said that members of the Tax Advisory Council were specifically asked to put forth suggestions on three areas namely, expansion of tax base, ease of doing business and enhancement of tax revenue. He said the FBR had seriously taken up the exercise to expand the tax net, issued notices to 170,000 potential taxpayers and provisional assessment of 44,000 individuals had also been carried out. He also apprised the meeting that revenue collection in July–Feb 2014-15 period had reached Rs1,538 billion compared to Rs1,360 billion in the same period last fiscal year, thus showing 13 percent growth despite plunge in sales tax due to falling oil prices.
