Minister of Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb announced that the government refunded Rs 68 billion to textile exporters.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Sunday, the finance minister further revealed that Rs 600 billion had been identified as fake sales tax, of which only Rs1 billion had been recovered.
He said the refund process which had begun on July 1 had now concluded, but it was the first step on the path to reviving the country’s macroeconomic status.
It was, as he believes, a pivotal part in amending the flaws within and in regards to the tax authority.
In order to make the process of taxation less complicated, he proposed a new plan under the Tajir Dost Scheme regarding reprofiling. “We are aware of the unfortunate situation at this point in time but we will need to get by until it gets better,” he assured.
Aurangzeb emphasized the unfairness and inequality regarding the non tax paying class and urged the citizens to “raise their voice over this issue, and make it so that the undertaxed and untaxed began paying.”
According to him, without cooperation in this sector, the tax net will never be able to undergo the exponential increase the government is hoping for.
The minister informed that the government has introduced an electronic method to use if a citizen’s tax liability was less than the amount they had paid. For this, the citizens would be required to file a notice at the FBR in order to receive a refund by the bank.
Additionally, he discussed the crucial need for a centralized platform to deal with the problem of non-filers.
“It will be unsustainable until trust and credibility are restored within the tax authority, as they will create many issues for our plans of simplification in the long term,” he stated.
