In recent years, Pakistan has largely shifted towards a knowledge economy from being an industrial hub. The last decade has seen a mushroom growth in the services industry, especially telecommunication, restaurants, software and information technology.

It is a healthy sign that the country has excelled in creating diverse opportunities to achieve growth and prosperity. However, the business community has been facing enormous challenges in the day-to-day management of affairs.

One of the major challenges is lack of ease in doing business. This is also manifested in World Bank’s ‘Ease of Doing Business Report, 2020’, where the country has occupied 108th position. It is often brought on record that there is a huge cost of compliance due to frequent recourse to old records by the tax authorities.

True, there is a practice of calling out financial accounts, income tax returns and bank statements for either all of the previous periods or more than two years. This has become a huge burden on the financial and human resources of the taxpaying companies that are putting in extra effort to increase Pakistan’s development prospects. It is time a workable environment was created for the service industry to improve international standing and to achieve economic glory.

The taxation authorities must take into consideration the worries of new market entrants which have become a source of livelihood for many a people by absorbing huge youth bulge.

Ali Siddiqui
Karachi

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2021