APP: President Dr Arif Alvi here on Monday said that documentation of the economy, digitalization of financial transactions, creation of an effective and just tax system, and enhancing tax collection by bringing the rich under the tax net were imperative for ending the country’s aid dependency and bringing financial independence. He added that the economic prosperity of the country was directly linked to increasing tax collection and bringing new taxpayers under the tax net and diverting the resources to uplift poor segments of the society.
Addressing an awareness seminar regarding the role of the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) in the provision of prompt, quick and free justice to people at their doorsteps, the President said that in the world, the state was responsible for providing uniform education, quality health services and jobs on merit to people and it was only possible when the new taxpayers were brought under the tax network and existing taxpayers were charged fair tax through a user-friendly IT-based tax system.
The President said the states often resort to imposing indirect taxes on alternate products like gasoline and other expensive consumable items when the majority of people were reluctant to pay taxes due to the complicated tax system.
He added that it was the responsibility of the governments to create a transparent, effective, and just taxation system, which was also responsive to people’s demands to build people’s confidence.
In this situation, he said, the responsibility of the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) increases as according to the law the FTO has to decide the tax-related complaints against federal tax authorities within 60 days of time. The President expressed satisfaction that most of the people’s complaints were being addressed by the FTO within the time frame.
Countering smuggling, money laundering and finance-related white-collar crimes were among the major challenges of the present era, the President said, “We have to go towards speedy adaptation of digital technology for financial transparency to curb them”.
Dr Arif Alvi said today was an era of capitalism and most poor countries were looking toward international monetary institutions for loans, adding Pakistan has all the resources that need to be exploited for the well-being of the masses and to increase tax collection to bridge the rich-poor gap.
Dr Alvi said the President’s Secretariat was speedily disposing of the tax-related complaints/cases and most of the appeals preferred to the President were decided within 24 hours barring one or two where further information was needed.
He highlighted the need to discourage the practice of frivolous litigations by government institutions in cases involving meagre amounts to avoid the wastage of institutions’ precious time, resources and manpower.
The President underlined the need for enhancing the outreach of FTO and creating awareness about this office to provide quick dispensation of justice against the maladministration, inefficiency, incompetence and excesses of the tax bureaucracy.
Acting Governor KP, Mushtaq Ghani said that tax collection in KP had increased to a record Rs 30 billion against the Rs 10 billion recorded before, adding that reforms in tax collection were imperative to increase the tax base.
Dr Asif Mahmood Jah, Federal Tax Ombudsman while referring to his department’s performance and various decisions in tax-related cases said that the importance and effectiveness of the institution was increasing day by day due to the trust of taxpayers and people. He urged the taxpayers to immediately contact FTO if they have any grievances with tax administration or if their legitimate issues were not being resolved.
To facilitate taxpayers, five new FTO stations were established in different cities in the country, he mentioned. It said that in 2021, FTO received 3371 complaints and decided 2867, while the FBR’s acceptance response to FTO’s recommendations/decisions was 88 per cent.
Besides letters and emails, Dr Asif said people can contact FTO through a mobile app and WhatsApp for quick resolution of their complaints. The seminar was attended, among others, by members of the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, tax officers, traders, FBR officials and other segments of the society.
