KARACHI: Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, the President of the Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, the President of All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and Chairman of the FPCCI Advisory Board, Mian Zahid Hussain, said that tax evasion has become a significant threat to the country’s economy.

He said that laws should be tightened to prevent tax evasion and that the tax officials involved should be severely punished.

Zahid Hussain said that many vital sectors of the economy are not paying taxes, and the country is suffering from tax shortfalls. Still, some elements in the tax machinery are helping the tax evaders. He said that tax evaders are causing billions of rupees in losses, which threatens the country’s economic stability.

He added that tax evasion and non-payment decrease government revenue, which affects infrastructure projects, health, education, and other service delivery sectors. Apart from the financial losses, tax evasion reduces public confidence in the tax system.

He observed that many people are attracted to tax evasion instead of paying taxes. To eliminate tax fraud, the entire system must be organized, and coordination between various institutions must increase so that the country can be successful in tax collection.

Mian Zahid said that the track-and-trace system has been made ineffective, the monitoring and audit system is weak, and the entire tax system must be automated to prevent the collusion of tax evaders and tax collectors. Automation of the entire system can help achieve sustainable economic development.

Mian Zahid said that if all business purchases and sales are digitized, tax can be automatically collected at a fixed rate. In contrast, heavy fines, suspension of tax incentives and initiating a series of criminal cases will not help. Automation is necessary to prevent fraud schemes, the creation of shell companies, and manipulation of invoice prices, flying invoices, and all other forms of evasion. There is a need to do this as tax evasion is on the rise due to loopholes in the tax system.

Mian Zahid Hussain further said that the incidents of terrorism are increasing in the country while the style of operations of the enemies of the country is also changing. The kind of incidents that used to happen in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are now happening in Balochistan as well, which shows the growing cooperation between the terrorists on both sides.

No country or company is ready to invest in Pakistan due to terrorism. China alone is investing in Pakistan, but its citizens are also being killed. China’s protests against these incidents are increasing, and our policymakers should understand that there is a limit to China’s tolerance, he warned.

Source: Business Recorder, 2024