16/06/23

ASIA: Pakistan to rein in tax evasion, smuggling for sustainable economic growth

As published on: english.news.cn, Friday 16 June, 2023.

Pakistani Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Sardar Ayaz Sadiq has said that his country has been making efforts to rein in tax evasion and smuggling for sustainable economic growth.

The pace of work on track and trace systems has been expedited to discourage smuggling, besides controlling tax evasion, the minister said at a seminar on tax evasion on Thursday.

Citing a report, Sadiq highlighted the mammoth gap in tax collection arising from illicit trade in five sectors of Pakistan including real estate, tobacco, tires and auto lubricants, pharmaceuticals, and tea.

"The total loss being caused by these five sectors alone is approximately 956 billion rupees (about 3.3 billion U.S. dollars) to the national exchequer," he said.

Sadiq underlined the need for complete harmonization among the federal and provincial tax collecting authorities to plug the tax leakages, saying the federal government is committed to taking all appropriate measures to end the menace of smuggling and tax evasion.

"The government has been striving to take all the stakeholders on board to make viable tax policies to stop tax evasion and enhance local revenue collection, besides incentivizing the local manufacturing sector to discourage imports," the minister said

Tags

Pakistan Tax Evasion