National News

ISLAMABAD: Muhammad Hammad Azhar, one of the youngest ministers in Pakistan’s new government, is the latest in a long line of officials to face a problem that undermines his country’s development: getting people to start paying income taxes.Ending a culture of rampant tax evasion is expected to be high on the agenda in negotiations this month with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as Pakistan seeks a second bailout since 2013.As state minister for revenue, Azhar, 37, says he is planning for long-term reforms. But first, he is banking on improved technology to allow the government to tap existing financial databases to help identify tax dodgers in a nation where less than 1 percent of the population even files income tax returns.“There is a lot of catching up to do,” Azhar told Reuters in an interview.One of the world’s lowest tax collection rates partly help explain the shoddy state of Pakistan’s hospitals and schools, and why the illiteracy rate hovers above 40 percent in the nation of 208 million people.Prime Minister Imran Khan, who took power in August, has vowed to double tax collection by reforming the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR), an institution he has called “totally corrupt”. One of Khan’s first acts as premier was to replace the FBR chief.In recent months, the FBR has launched a crackdown on 350 wealthy people targeting landlords and owners of luxury cars, as well as individuals who have a “trail of large business transactions and business deals” but don’t file tax returns.

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