Dr Ikramul Haq
Daily Times
Pakistan
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IMF’s programmes & tax reforms
According to a press report, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is looking forward to continuing discussions with the Pakistani authorities on the set of policies and reforms that could form the basis for completion of the sixth review under the $6-billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF). This was stated by the IMF resident representative, Ms. Teresa […] → Read More
Lower & predictable taxes for growth
The outdated and oppressive tax structures at federal and provincial levels have created further fiscal mess and how come out of it is discussed in Towards Flat, Low-rate, Broad and Predictable Taxes’ (PRIME Institute, Islamabad, published in December 2020, available free at: ). A webinar on this book was held on July 10, 2021 hosted […] → Read More
Will USA regain its lost legacy?
July 4 marks the National Day of United States of America Will USA regain its lost legacy? Perspectives → Read More
FATF & collective failure
It is shocking that only two political parties filed income tax returns for tax year 2020 out of 27 registered with FBR and 127 with Election Commission of Pakistan despite section 114(1)(ac) of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 makes it mandatory. How can we expect rule of law in Pakistan, when 125 political parties are […] → Read More
Budgets of, by and for the elites
Like every one of Pakistan’s budget, the latest one, expected on June 11, 2021, will likely be more of the same. That is, burdening the common people, appeasing the mighty, not withdrawing benefits available to the rich and following the dictates of lenders and donors. The majority of experts are not surprised. After all, beggars […] → Read More
Provinces and unconstitutional taxation
Any provincial assembly that imposes legislation that includes levy of any tax or duty — yielding extra-territorial impact and involving entities operating on trans-provincial — patently contravenes Article 141 of the Constitution. Similarly, any National Legislative Assembly that encroaches upon the rights of provinces in violation of Article 142 of the Constitution will be ultra […] → Read More
When will Pakistan have a pro-people budget?
A student recently asked me to outline an ideal people-friendly budget. My answer was and remains this: it should boast long-term vision for growth and prosperity while doing economic justice by all social classes. It must ensure equitable growth and prioritise lifting people out of poverty. Thus, here in Pakistan, the federal and provincial budgets […] → Read More
Reforms for growth and prosperity
“A comprehensive strategy has been formulated to shift the gears and move to higher economic growth. I do not believe in an increase in taxes to increase revenue collection but those outside the tax net would be tapped. The chances for any harassment by FBR officials shall be eliminated for which change in audit procedures. […] → Read More
Averting fiscal disaster
The coalition government of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is facing fiscal disaster as evident from Summary of Consolidated Federal and Provincial Fiscal Operations, 2020-21, released on May 6, 2021 by the Ministry of Finance, for the first nine months of the current fiscal year. It shows that 37 percent of defence spending is now funded […] → Read More
Budget 2021: need for federalised tax apparatus
“A comprehensive strategy has been formulated to shift the gear and move to higher economic growth. I do not believe in increase in taxes to increase revenue collection but those outside the tax net would be tapped. The chances for any harassment by FBR officials shall be eliminated for which change in audit procedures. 17 percent […] → Read More
Fiscal deficit and tax system
In fiscal year 2019-20, the coalition government of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), according to a report, posted fiscal deficit of Rs. 3.4 trillion or 8.1% of GDP against the estimate of International Monetary Fund (IMF) of Rs. 3.9 trillion (9.2% of the GDP) due to deadly economic toll of Covid-19 endemic. The news has certainly pleased … → Read More
Taxes at grassroots level
Assignment of a tax means transfer of taxation power from a higher level to a lower level government. Taxation power includes right to levy tax, collect tax and appropriate the proceeds from such tax. Thus, there can be three interpretations of assignment of a tax. Firstly, higher-level government may levy and collect a tax but … → Read More
Politics and drugs
Today, June 26, 2019 marks the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. Each year the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime selects the theme for the day and this year the... → Read More
Raising Rs10 trillion
The prime minister of Pakistan, in his brief address to nation on June 10, 2019 – a day before the announcement of the budget for fiscal year 2019-20 – asked the rich and mighty to... → Read More
Budget 2019: relief for fixed-income class
Budget for the next fiscal year 2019-2020 is around the corner, to be announced on June 11, 2019. Due to extreme economic crisis and harsh conditionalities agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in lieu of a bailout package of US$ 6 billion, the Government has already announced that “it will not be in a … → Read More
Reciprocity of taxes
Time and again, not only the ordinary Pakistanis but politicians as well complain that prevalent tax system is unjust and that the governments-federal and provincial-are not collecting the due taxes. Since assuming the office of Prime Minister, Imran Khan has been stressing that our survival as viable state depends on accelerating economic development and collecting … → Read More
Taxes for prosperous Pakistan
“The Laffer Curve, by the way, was not invented by me; it has its origins way back in time. For example, the Muslim philosopher Ibn Khaldun wrote in his fourteenth-century work The Muqaddimah: It should be known that at the beginning of the dynasty, taxation yields a large revenue from small assessments. At the end … → Read More
Retrieving billions for the marginalised
In a meeting chaired by the Federal Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination, Dr. Fehmida Mirza, on October 10, 2018, it was reportedly conveyed that the trans-provincial fund, assets, institutions and the programmes run by Employees Old Age Benefits Institute (EOBI) and Workers Welfare Fund (WWF) were difficult to divide among the provinces and that the … → Read More
Journey to judicial reforms
In his address on January 17, Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa said: “There are about 1.9 million cases pending in the country before all the courts put together and to handle such a huge... → Read More
Ending woes of taxpayers
Pakistan presents a classic case study of failure in every sphere of governance — the inefficient State institutions are the root cause of perpetual crises as they have no regard for the rights of the people. We need to correct the situation by restructuring all such institutions (no meaningful reforms have been done during the … → Read More