Tarin: This is your country, pay your taxes

“To take Pakistan’s GDP growth rate to 8%, we need to increase the tax revenue by 20%,” Advisor to the PM on Finance Shaukat Tarin said Monday.

At the Kamyab Jawaan Convention in Islamabad, he said that the government will abolish all taxes in the upcoming years. “After that, people will only have to pay the income and sales tax.”

Tarin stressed that it’s important every person in the country pays taxes, that too timely. “If you don’t pay taxes, you don’t have the right to vote. It is the state’s responsibility. We should not be forced to beg people to pay taxes.”

The advisor warned that the government will crackdown against people, especially traders and businessmen, who have been evading taxes. “We have everyone’s data. We will conduct third-party audits and assess everyone’s income, including mine.”

Talking about Small and Medium Enterprises, agriculture, and the IT sector, Tarin promised that a plan is being chalked out to fund them.

“There are nearly four million SMEs in Pakistan but only 6% to 7% loan is provided to them. We will make the provision of loans easy and establish a fund of Rs150 billion for them within two years.”

Under the Kamyab Jawan Programme, interest-free loans are being provided to four million farmers and small businesses.

According to SAPM on Youth Affairs Usman Dar, so far, Rs30 billion have been distributed to the youth. The remaining 70 million will be given by 2023.