- Says people can declare their assets by June 30 deadline and make payments in instalmentsĀ
- Promises to reform tax authority, says no one will be allowed to harass taxpayers
Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday made yet another appeal to the nation to avail the tax amnesty scheme and declare their undeclared assets, pleading them to at least register for the scheme if they could not make the payments by the deadline.
āInstallments will also be given [but] no extension after June 30,ā Imran said while speaking in a TV programme on a private channel.Ā He added that no extension will be given but Sunday will be open to facilitate people.
āWe pay the least tax. In the past 10 years, we took many loansā and a lot of the expenditure āgoes in the interest on those taxes,ā said the premier.
āWe need to get out of this quicksand. We have to change ourselves,ā the premier said. āIn the 60s, Pakistan was on the rise,ā he said, but āwe donāt pay taxes. Thereās too much corruption here.ā
Commenting further on the hesitance of Pakistanis regarding paying taxes and how their taxes would be used, Imran said: āPeople think their tax wonāt be spent on them. They believe itāll be stolen or wonāt be spent on them.
āHowever, I promise it would definitely be spent on them.ā
The PM gave two assurances during his comments: That ānobody will be allowed to harass the tax-payersā and that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) āwill be reformedā.
Further, he clarified that non-custom-paid vehicles were not included in the scheme but those vehicles that were custom-paid but not declared can be declared.
Speaking of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership and its accomplishments, Khan said: āThe information the government has today, no government had it previously.
āBenami [unnamed] property will be confiscated in addition to other punishment,ā he stressed.
At present, there is āmoney-laundering of $10 billion each yearā.
The prime minister also took questions from the chambers of commerce from around Pakistan, with that of Lahore requesting Khan to ease the conditions for businesses by bringing down the interest rate.
āOur aim is simple. We are connecting citizens with their governors and representatives who will answer the citizenās connections. We are the facilitators and the middlemen whose job is to conduct people,ā the premier said.
āHere questions will be asked by the people. We can only encourage them to ask questions and avail the opportunity to clear their understandings and also encourage the representatives and the governors of the country to take the chance and clarify the solutions you have created for the problem in the hope of saving the country.
āOne this is for sure: our tax collection rate is the lowest in the world and Pakistan canāt continue as a state with this current state of affairs!ā