AFTER an increase in the prices of fuel, electricity, gas, devaluation of rupee, and on top of it, imposition of additional taxes on flour, sugar etc, prices of every commodity in the market have gone up.

Under such hyper inflationary conditions how can a poor man survive with a meagre salary of Rs17,500 — the minimum salary fixed by the government? Under the prevailing circumstances, the minimum salary should be Rs30,000 per month.

The PML-N government’s policy of putting restrictions on non-filers (99 per cent of population) to buy property and automobiles resulted in a loss of about Rs400 billion in revenue collection. This policy was implemented in the last budget of the PML-N government to pin down economically the next government.

Initially, Asad Umar reversed this policy, but when leader of the opposition Shehbaz Sharif opposed removing restrictions, the finance minister succumbed to the pressure and re-imposed restrictions on non-filers.

The PTI government fell into the trap laid by the PML-N and to recover the shortfall in revenue increased flour, sugar, fuel, gas and electricity prices.

The main aim of the government should be to increase the tax collection and not increase the number of filers. A non-filer used to pay much higher withholding tax on the purchase of automobile and property. But by becoming a filer he may not pay income tax.

How will the Federal Board of Revenue catch such filers? It will do it probably through audit. But that may take years as about 10pc of filers are audited per year.

Maqbool Nisar Ali Beg

Islamabad

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2019