- Dar stressed early promulgation of the new company law which will replace 32 years old law.
Minister for Finance, Senator Ishaq Dar on Thursday said that the government would not tolerate tax evaders in any case and the coming times would be very difficult for them.
He, however, assured those taxpayers who were paying their taxes honestly would be further facilitated and the FBR would treat them as a Friendly Board of Revenue.
Addressing a ceremony held here to conduct computerised balloting for audit tax year 2015 (income tax, sales tax and Federal Excise Duty), the finance minister said those selected for audit should need not to be worried if they were honest taxpayers.
He said due to hard efforts of the government, Pakistan succeeded to become a signatory of the multilateral Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and after becoming the member of OECD, Pakistan could now have access to information about the tax evaders anywhere in the world.
Company Act:
Ishaq Dar underscored the need for early promulgation of the new company law which will replace more than 32 years old law.
Similarly, he added that the present government also had introduced a new Companies Act, 2016, according to which all the company holders would be bound to maintain their global assets.
He suggested that the sub-committees of both Houses should sit together for early finalisation of the Companies Bill, 2016, in the national interest.
He said under this act, the stakeholders would be given an opportunity to bring their matters in the right directions.
However, pursuant to the Panama Leaks issue, there has been a movement globally to regulate the beneficial ownership area and a number of countries including UK have undertaken legislation in this area.
Barring a few concerns, the promulgation of the Companies Ordinance, 2016 was duly appreciated by a majority of the stakeholders.
Finance Minister told the Committee that he has advised SECP to bring before the committee all concerned proposals and suggestions from press and professional circle for further improvement of the law.
Revenue:
Due to structural reforms and stringent fiscal discipline, the government succeeded in boosting the revenue collection by 60 percent in three years while during the previous government’s tenure the revenue collection was increasing with an average ratio of only 3.38 percent annually.
“Today Pakistan’s socio-economic condition is far better than that it was in 2013 when the country was on the verge of being a defaulter”, he remarked.
“Now the whole focus of the government is on exports lead growth, agriculture and services-led economic growth as there is a lot of room in these sectors to develop”, he added.
He said now Pakistan would not only come out of energy crisis in 2018 but it would also become an energy surplus country.
