ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has decided to restrict foreign travel for non-filers, with exceptions for those traveling for Hajj, Umrah, or educational purposes, as the country unveiled its Rs18.9 trillion budget on Wednesday.
The Finance Bill proposes a penalty of Rs10 million for travel agencies that fail to enforce these new regulations.
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb presented the budget in a National Assembly session, which was marked by anti-Nawaz Sharif slogans from the opposition.
In his speech, Aurangzeb emphasized the need to digitize the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and implement reforms to enhance tax collection.
The government has set an ambitious tax revenue target of Rs12,970 billion for the FBR, representing a 38% increase from the current fiscal year.
The Finance Bill also states that repeat offences of non-compliance will result in a fine of Rs20 million.
Additionally, the government had previously prepared to take action against three million non-filers, including disconnecting their electricity and gas connections.
Media reports indicate that the government will enforce these regulations to disconnect the utilities of non-filers, tightening measures against tax evaders by leveraging tax laws.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has underscored the necessity of expanding the tax base, asserting that the country cannot function effectively with a 9.5% tax-to-GDP ratio.
“We must include everyone in the tax net. Our goal is to ensure that all eligible individuals are on the active taxpayers’ list,” stated Aurangzeb in an interview to a private TV channel after announcing budget.
“We need to eliminate the non-filer category in the country,” he added.
His remarks came shortly after presenting the federal budget for the fiscal year 2024-25 in the National Assembly, which has a total outlay of Rs18.9 trillion.
The federal government has set an ambitious tax revenue target of 13 trillion rupees ($46.66 billion) for the year starting July 1, representing a nearly 40% increase from the current year’s budget. This move aims to bolster the case for a new bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Key objectives for the upcoming fiscal year include reducing the public debt-to-GDP ratio to sustainable levels and prioritising improvements in Pakistan’s balance of payments position, according to the government’s budget document.
Pakistan is projecting a significant decrease in its fiscal deficit for the new financial year to 5.9% of GDP, down from an upwardly revised estimate of 7.4% for the current year.
I am an experienced writer, analyst, and author. My exposure in English journalism spans more than 28 years. In the past, I have been working with daily The Muslim (Lahore Bureau), daily Business Recorder (Lahore/Islamabad Bureaus), Daily Times, Islamabad, daily The Nation (Lahore and Karachi). With daily The Nation, I have served as Resident Editor, Karachi. Since 2009, I have been working as a Freelance Writer/Editor for American organizations.
