Pakistan PM launches system to check tax evasion in sugar industry
Prime Minister Imran Khan has inaugurated the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) track and trace system to help the government monitor the movement of sugar from factories and curb tax evasion.
The prime minister called the rollout of the Track and Trace System (TTS) a key development.
“It is an integrated, technology-based solution that shall ensure accurate reporting of production volumes through real-time monitoring of manufacturing by the affixation of tax stamps, improve quality control and thus ensure increased revenue collection,” he said.
The system would help improve the monitoring mechanism and increase revenue collection. “Our revenue collection system was one of the weakest in the world, with a chronically low Tax-to-GDP ratio” he recalled.
Khan said that his present government was the first one to break the nexus of tax evaders, vested interests and mafias. “We have not been afraid of taking difficult decisions nor shied away from plugging loopholes by enacting legislation that restricts corrupt practices and ensures transparency and fairness,” he continued.
The increased digitization and automation of the entire tax apparatus as a means to reduce opportunities for graft, coercion and theft. “Track and Trace System will serve as a central pillar of that economic policy and shall revolutionize tax collection across Pakistan,” he said.
FBR is expected to collect Rs6 trillion in taxes during the current financial year.
Chairman FBR Dr. Muhammad Ashfaq Ahmed shared that several attempts made in the past to introduce the Track and Trace System in Pakistan starting in 2008 and over a period of 13 years failed due to lack of expertise, want of political will, corruption and other unethical practices.
“The present government took a very bold step and provided FBR with strong support to implement Track and Trace System not just in tobacco but more sectors like sugar, cement and fertilizers,” he said.
FBR would to maximize efforts to expand digitization to all key sectors in order to ensure transparency, plug leakages and maximize revenue potential, FBR chairman shared.
After the sugar and tobacco sectors, FBR is planning to bring the beverage, cement, fertilizer, petroleum, pharmaceuticals and steel sectors under this system.
Adviser to the PM on Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin said 78 sugar companies had signed up for the TTS so far. The FBR and National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) were working on broadening the tax base through the use of modern technology, he added.