I AM really shocked to learn from the press reports that the present government intends to introduce a tax amnesty scheme by the end of March for those rich non-taxpayers who have transferred billions of dollars of ill-gotten wealth to foreign countries without payment of taxes.

The 22,000-strong force of Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) which failed to check illegal transfers of this national wealth both because of their incompetence has plans to whiten this ill-gotten wealth upon its return to Pakistan against a payment of two to four per cent income tax. The implementation of this tax amnesty will be an insult to those honest taxpayers, particularly the salaried class, who have been paying income tax in the range of 10 to 30pc for the last several decades. This will also be against the constitution, which guarantees equal treatment to all citizens.

I sincerely hope that Supreme Court of Pakistan takes notice of this highly discriminatory tax amnesty scheme. In case this scheme is actually implemented, the honest taxpayers will then be justified in asking the FBR to refund the amount of all income tax paid by them over four per cent since inception.

The proposed scheme will seriously damage the efforts to promote tax culture in Pakistan. This will also send a wrong message to the international community regarding our resolve to implement anti-money laundering regulations.

This short-sighted measure aimed at one-time improvements of balance of payment will be like winning a battle for losing the war.

Basharat Malik

Lahore

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2018