Tax collection fell by 30pc due to pandemic, Hammad Azhar tells Senate

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar said on Friday the country’s tax revenue witnessed a 30 per cent decline due to the adverse impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking during today’s session of the Senate, he said the number of tax filers rose by 40 per cent to 2.6 million from 1.6 million over the previous year. “Our tax collection also witnessed 27 per cent growth before the emergence of Covid-19 but saw a 30 per cent decline in the post-pandemic period,” he pointed out.

He expressed the confidence that the situation will improve as business activities have resumed. He said well-off people who are still out of the tax net will be made to pay their due taxes.

Hammad Azhar said the tax collection from salaries of government employees in the fiscal year 2018-19 raked in Rs5.97 billion whereas Rs70.47 billion worth of tax was collected from employees of all provincial governments and other departments.

He said efforts are afoot to further broaden the country’s tax base as the database is being used to improve the tax collection with the government considering to phase out import-based duties and focus on domestic taxation.

He said the previous governments failed to revive or privatise Pakistan Steel Mills. “Today, the debt of Pakistan Steel Mills stands at Rs230 billion,” he revealed. He said the government has now decided to lease out the core steel mills operations to revive the Steel Mills.

Tax collection fell by 30pc due to pandemic, Hammad tells Senate