ISLAMABAD: Total number of taxpayers has been increased to over one million in 2015-16 from 900,000 in fiscal year 2013-14.
This was revealed by Parliamentary Secretary Finance Rana Afzal at the National Assembly. He said that the government collected record taxes in the financial year 2015-16 with increase of 21 per cent.
Replying to a question in the House, he said the government’s talks with business community and other stakeholders had been successful regarding widening the tax net.
To a query, he said that taxes collections had been increased manifold during the tenure of incumbent government. No scheme had been initiated by the government to whiten black money, he added.
Rana Afzal said the government borrowed less from commercial banks during 2015-16 as compared to the last fiscal year 2014-15.
He said the government borrowed Rs 1,326 billion from commercial banks during FY 2014-15, and Rs 1,262.030 billion during FY 2015-16. The government did not wave of any tax debt during its tenure, he added. He said the tax collection system in Pakistan was easy. Modern system would be introduced to make it more transparent and efficient, he added.
The Parliamentary Secretary clarified that the cost of the CPEC security was included in the project cost, and there was no plan under consideration to put these security taxes into the electricity bills as claimed by some circles.
