THIS is apropos the UN report wherein weak personal income tax (PIT) compliance in Pakistan raises serious concerns about accountability and the lack of a conducive tax culture in the country (Dec 4).

The report stated that a given country should gear its PIT implementation strategy according to its particular stage of development. Though this is a fair conclusion, here in Pakistan for decades there has been a large parallel economy running neck and neck with the documented economy.

In fact, according to a conservative guesstimate, the black economy in 2016 was in the range of 60-plus 90pc of the formal economy’s value. So, there is ‘zero’ personal income tax compliance for the undocumented black economy. This situation pervades in the formal economy as well.

Only a few hundred thousand people have actually filed their PIT returns. Some of these returns are not wholly accurate as the exact information.

We must heed the words of our beloved Quaid-i-Azam who asked the citizens of the new state to comply with the law.

The government and civil society must initiate a campaign to encourage the citizen to file his tax return. Every citizen should be made accountable for his tax return.

For those who file their tax returns year after year, a small public reward or appreciation should be instituted by the FBR, no matter how ordinary it may seem.

Abbas R. Siddiqi

Lahore

Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2017