Who Owns Pakistan - Yimg
Who Owns Pakistan - Yimg
Who Owns Pakistan - Yimg
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Chapter Four - <strong>Pakistan</strong>'s Tax Web<br />
<strong>Pakistan</strong> today has a mind-boggling taxation system that defies comprehension<br />
of the average citizens and experts alike. In 1990, Karachi Chamber of<br />
Commerce and Industry had established that the industry was subjected to 50<br />
direct and indirect taxes but the statement of Senator Ilyas Bilour, President<br />
PFCCI at the Businessmen Conference in Islamabad on March 25, 1997 that 37<br />
govt deprtments and agnencies were collecting taxes gives a meaure of the<br />
proliferation of taxes that has taken place in <strong>Pakistan</strong>.<br />
It was not in the province of this book to catalogue the taxes being collected by<br />
the federal, provincial and local governments but I have identified 70 major taxes<br />
to which consumers and producers are subjected. In addition there are host of<br />
specific taxes like a Research and Development Levy, Drug Manufacturing<br />
Licence Fee and Drug Registration Fee. It can be said safely that there are at<br />
least 100 taxes in vogue in <strong>Pakistan</strong>.<br />
It is not the proliferation of taxes that is mind-boggling. It is the exemptions to<br />
these taxes for the privileged, their duplication and triplication for the common<br />
man, the method of their collection and making refunds, utilization of specificpurpose<br />
taxes that is mind-boggling. There is an education cess levied by the<br />
federal govt, another education cess is collected by provincial govts. The Central<br />
Excise Duty (CED) is being collected on the telephone bills by <strong>Pakistan</strong><br />
Telecommunication Corporation but Baluchistan govt introduced a duty on<br />
telephone calls in the 1996-97 budget. Federal govt has levied a Tobacco cess<br />
but in the 1997-98 budget the provincial govt of NWFP levied a Rs one per Kilo<br />
Tobacco Cess. Civil Aviation Authority collects an airport tax. There is a Workers<br />
Participation Fund and another Workers Welfare Fund.<br />
There are federal taxes like Ushr being collected by the provincial govts,<br />
provincial taxes like motor vehicle tax being collected by the federal govt. Local<br />
taxes like the property tax is being collected by the provincial govt and<br />
reimbursed to municipal corporation and committees.<br />
An appeal by the leading hotels and restaurants of Lahore in the national<br />
newspapers after the 1997-98 budget exemplifies the multiplication of taxes in<br />
<strong>Pakistan</strong>.<br />
"In the recent Punjab provincial budget, an additional tax of 10%<br />
has been levied on the posh restaurants and international hotels of<br />
the province. This is in addition to 12.5% Central Excise Duty and<br />
5% provincial tax levied on July 1, 1996. Cumulatively, these taxes<br />
add up to about 30% which, by any national and international<br />
standards is extremely high", the appeal said.<br />
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