The tax-to-GDP ratio has declined:

The tax-to-GDP ratio has declined:

This was stated by Shaukat Tarin, adviser to the prime minister on Finance at his post-budget press conference here on Sunday.

He asked parliamentarians and leaders of political parties to make their tax returns public, which would improve the public image of the MNAs and make the call of the government to file tax returns honestly more effective.

A key theme � that has repeatedly been hammered by the government � is the need to improve mobilisation of domestic resources. It intend to achieve the tax target through widening of tax-base and better management of tax administration to check leakages and plug holes in the tax net. Currently, tax-to-GDP ratio in Pakistan is worst in the region.

An attempt has been made to bring in the documented service sector, banking, insurance, port handling and brokerage business in the tax net in the current budget to pull the tax-to-GDP ratio up from 9 to 9.5 per cent over the year ahead, the adviser explained.

�We are committed to pull tax-to-GDP ratio to 15 per cent over the next three years by taxing untaxed sectors to minimise the dependence on external resources for the development of the country.

Next year, we will bring in some more sectors in the net that enjoy tax holiday without any justification�, he said.

Currently, industry that makes up for 24 per cent of the GDP generates over 70 per cent of tax revenues, the contribution of agriculture and service sector together add up to 74pc of the GDP but their contribution to tax revenues is next to nothing.

The industry has been crying hoarse for the injustice meted out to most productive sector. �We have been made to pay for tax evaders and irresponsible segments. This is unfair and unjustified and should be corrected at the earliest,� a business leader told Dawn criticising the government for letting the landed aristocracy be free riders.

�People would be interested in knowing who pays how much to the national exchequer. The exercise can go a long way in improving the perception of parliamentarians in public eye who generally perceive them to be ambitious and irresponsible�, said an expert

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