Government mulls options to expand tax net.

As the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) fails to expand a narrow tax base, the government on Thursday considered creating a new legal arrangement to bring more people in the tax net.

The proposal to carve a new legal structure was discussed during a meeting of the FBR policy board, chaired by Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh.

Like its predecessor, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has struggled to expand the tax base and its promise of recovering billions of dollars presumably stashed abroad has also remained unfulfilled.

For the last many months, there has been no permanent director general of international taxes and the information received from abroad about offshore wealth also remains underutilised.

The government set up a committee to review the possibility of integration of data in possession of various departments and use it for the purpose of expansion of tax base.

The finance adviser created a sub-group of members to point out and address the difficulties hindering the progress on data sharing between the two organisations, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Finance after the meeting.

The sub-group will comprise Minister for Industries Hammad Azhar, Adviser to Prime Minister on Institutional Reforms Dr Ishrat Husain, National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance Chairman Faizullah Kamoka, FBR chairman and National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) chairman, stated the finance ministry...

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