Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said during budget speech that country’s foreign exchange reserves will cross $18.2 billion by end-2015, and from July 1, Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC) number will be treated as National Tax Number (NTN) for individuals. The minister, who was addressing members of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), categorically stated that the government’s focused approach would continue to transform the recently achieved macro-economic stabilisation into economic growth.After giving details about the precarious state of economy when PML-N government took over. Though CNIC has been become NTN number of every citizen it will still be necessary to register people first with the FBR, so the NTNs are going to be required for the foreseeable future. One would think that they would have thought through the process of replacing the NTNs with CNICs, but apparently they had not.The hearing also saw the re-emergence of the controversy over how many individuals the FBR has identified who are leading a lavish lifestyle but are not registered with the tax authorities. An earlier exercise had produced 700,000 families on this list, but the current FBR chairman has been refusing to own that number, claiming his list has only 43,000 families on it. The number of cases pending appeals was also questioned, as were the amounts of refunds stuck up with the FBR. One senator shared a rather intriguing new method for conducting cash transactions that he claimed was gaining in popularity, involving bank lockers with money stashed away and their keys used to represent the value of the funds within them, which he said was a response to the withholding tax on bank transactions of non-filers. The hearing made clear that the FBR has a hard time determining the number of people that are evading its net, the amounts owed to those who are within its net, and the fact that it may face new challenges in its attempts to get people to register themselves as taxpayers. If anyone needs an idea on why this country has such a hard time developing sustainable sources of revenue, he or she need not look beyond this hearing.
pk.shafaqna.com
