Dr Talat Shabbir (Economist): Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and his government is fully committed to upgrade Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). Now resumption of flights of our national flag carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to Europe is a significant development. Once in the past PIA was ranked among the best airlines in the world. Privatization of PIA along with overhauling and revamping the airline will also be very good step. I fully support more facilities for officials of tax collecting agency to enhance their performance. I also support digitalization of the Federal Board of Revenue for speedy completion of tax collecting process. The government must sensitize the people to pay their due taxes through mass awareness campaign. The government must transform the existing tax collecting system into a public and business friendly through simplification so that people may not be afraid of tax collectors and pay their due taxes voluntarily. The measures of incumbent government are improving the indicators of economy resulting relief to masses.

Humayun Iqbal Shami (Economist): Pakistan needs to overhaul the entire taxation system for strengthening the economy. Our taxation system should be horizontal and everyone must be in the tax net. Agriculture, retail and some other key sectors are still out tax system. Some areas in Balochistan, former FATA and PATA are also still out of tax jurisdiction. Then smuggling through these areas is also major flaw in our tax system. We can’t compare our tax system with the system of other countries because we have totally different ground realities. We have huge population but we have limited resources with our tax body. Maximum tax rate should be 15% so everyone may like to pay due share in tax. There is 13% highest tax rate in India. Our higher rate of tax is discouraging the industry and business. Therefore I urge the government to decrease the tax rate to encourage everyone to come into the tax. There is higher rate in Scandinavian countries but those are welfare states where all the amenities are free of cost for the people. Increasing the tax rate is not a guarantee to force people to come into the tax net. The Inland Revenue Appellate Tribunals are not able to perform well due lesser of their number as well as short of human resources and work force. I think that international firms or bodies must also be added to enhance the performance of these tribunals. I fully endorse the statement of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif for hiring legal experts of international repute for speedy conclusion of tax related cases of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).