Un-explained assets, income legalisation: FBR opposes amnesty schemes Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Tariq Bajwa has strongly opposed amnesty schemes for the legalisation of the un-disclosed assets and income earned through black money. Sharing his policy on the amnesty schemes on Wednesday, FBR Chairman informed media at the FBR Headquarters that, "I am not in favour of the amnesty scheme for the legalisation of the un-explained assets and income because it ruined governance structure". It might have short term gains as the FBR could get revenues of Rs 100 billion to offset its shortfall but on long term it will not be in the best interest of the country, he added. Tariq Bajwa categorically said that the amnesty schemes have long-term negative impact on the economy of the country. To a question, he said that there would be zero tolerance on corruption among the FBR officers. The FBR Member Customs has suspended two officers in Karachi on Wednesday on corruption charges, he maintained. He said that he appointed honest officers across the country and gave them mandate to replicate this practice in second and third tiers appointments. Now the honest will have to deliver as their continuity will be dependent upon performance. Explaining the rationale behind the income support levy, FBR Chairman said that the income support levy of 0.5 percent would be utilised for safety net programs such as Benazir Income Support Program (BISP). In order to discharge responsibility of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), he said that people having ability to pay this levy should voluntarily come forward to discharge their duty towards poor segment of the society. To a query, he said that Punjab had collected Rs 700 million in shape of Agriculture Income Tax (AIT) in last financial year and envisaged a target to net Rs 1.8 billion in the current fiscal year. Tariq Bajwa added that there was need to effectively monitor withholding agents as people used to pay sales tax at restaurants but it was not deposit into national kitty by owners of hotels and restaurants. The number of withholding agents has been increased in budget (2013-14), and collection of withholding taxes is not an easy task, he added.
Posted on: Thu, 29 Aug 2013 06:08:33 +0000