Chairman FBR has stated that he has traced the whereabouts of 3.1 million tax evaders and there are as of now only 800,000 citizens who pay their taxes regularly. His remedy that the names of all the defaulters be put on the ECL while their national ID cards and bank accounts blocked is not a bad one, though it is not for the first time that we are hearing about such correctional measures. What matters is how much is done practically. When our Parliament, where one has to witness such things as endorsement of tax amnesty scheme, it reflects poorly on the state’s intent to catch the big fishes. What prevents the authorities from going after the guilty is the ruling class’s composition, a large part of which is made up of the same kind of people who flock most centres of powers. Feudal lords who own excessively large landholdings, industrialists who run huge business empires and others of their kind never pay the taxes because either they are too powerful for the taxation officials or sometimes they could even have the laws drafted serving their interests.
In stark comparison, the average man who sweats all day for a pittance hardly enough to buy the bread and butter for the family is made to pay every bit of the taxes. One expects the Chairman FBR to follow up on his words with serious action. It is also necessary that the FBR is relieved of the pressure and day-to-day interference.