Respect To Taxpayers

Revenuecracy4 keeps on maligning the citizens as tax dodgers. Unfortunately, the bandwagon is joined by the so-called “informed” analysts and all-knowing (sic) TV anchors calling Pakistanis “tax cheat”, whereas reality is quite the opposite. The often-repeated popular jargon that only “1% of the population pays income tax” has become Gospel’s truth in Pakistan that nobody is ready to disbelieve. It exposes the hollowness of all those who subscribe to it. Collection under withholding income tax regime was Rs. 1091.5 billion out of total direct tax collection of Rs. 1513.8 billion in fiscal year 2019-20, according to official source, FBR Year Book 2019-205. Advance tax paid was Rs. 351 billion and with returns Rs. 61 billion. FBR collected only Rs. 61 billion (arrears of Rs. 14 billion and out of current demand Rs. 47 billion) with its own efforts, which is only 4% of total collection.