LAHORE: The newly-elected Punjab government will present an eight-month budget for the ongoing fiscal year in the mid of October.
Instructions have been issued to the finance department to prepare the budget, besides calling the resource mobilisation committee meetings and taking all the stakeholders on board before making important financial decisions.
This was disclosed by the Punjab Finance Minister Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakht chairing the maiden meeting of Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) on Thursday.
The minister said that aggressive approach towards the taxpayers would be discouraged while progressive approach would be adopted for the promotion of tax culture in the province.
The official of PRA including chairman Dr Raheel Siddique, member operation Javed Ahmed, legal member Kamran Ahmed, policy member Zainul Abideen, Information Technology Director Salman Zafar and officials of the finance department attended the meeting.
The minister said that an accountability system would also be introduced in taxation system while broadening of tax base would be continued besides controlling the tax rate.
He appreciated the PRA in revenue collection and automation of the taxation system with small team of experts and suggested to keep expanding with the same pace. He believed that the drone survey system will improve the working of the PRA.
On the issues faced by the PRA regarding human resource and revenue generation from telecommunication sector, the minister said that issues would be resolved after getting legal opinion on it.
Earlier, Dr Siddique briefed the minister about the issues faced by the PRA related with input adjustment with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Supreme Court decision on tax suspension from telecommunication services and others which are affecting the revenue collection targets.
The minister appreciated the Restaurant Invoice Monitoring System and other initiatives of the PRA, besides suggesting to effectively using social media to sensitise the public about taxation.
He further instructed the PRA to include the tax education information to elite school curriculum too likewise Punjab textbook. He assured taking up the FBR related issued with federal finance minister.
