The government always fails to act in time due to one reason or the other or may be it lacks mechanism to get real time information. The tax to GDP ratio in Pakistan is the lowest in the region and failure of the government to adopt block chain technology in time can be considered a routine matter. In a country of 200 million, less than one million taxpayers show how the government will have to be proactive to increase tax net. Thousands of manual and online financial transactions take place every day, but the ratio of tax remains the same. Another area of concern is to protect the online transactions from criminals. With increasing trend in business and industry to adopt information technology, the chances of cyber crime have also increased.
According to experts, block chain method is used in various countries to keep the record of transactions across many computers in a decentralized digital ledger and in a way that the registered transactions could not be altered retroactively. As Pakistan’s economy is growing, there is a need to adopt modern techniques to enhance tax net and protect transactions from cyber criminals. So far, the concentration was on the higher rates of tax collection which has marred the shape of tax system. It is good omen that the State Bank has started working on a project to adopt block chain technology in central and commercial banks not only to protect the electronic financial transactions from cyber crimes but also record all the data of financial transactions. According to experts, the data is embedded in digital code with the help of block chain technology and it is protected from deletion, tampering, and revision. Using the technology, the record of transactions between parties is efficiently protected and saved.
The technology is being used in banks and trade in various countries. The electronically transfer of money needs to be protected not only from the criminals, but also for secrecy of business deals. Pakistan is the rising hub of information technology and it is not difficult for the government to involve private sector organizations in the system. Reports suggest three organizations are already involved in payment system operations, but banks are still reluctant to adopt new technology.
