Pakistan finance minister urges traders to pay taxes to stabilise economy

Pakistan Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Tuesday requested traders to pay their share of taxes to increase revenue collection and stabilise the cash-strapped country's economy on a long-term basis.

Aurangzeb was addressing a press conference in Islamabad, days after the traders held a countrywide strike against the new tax scheme to bring over 3.5 million retailers into the tax net.

The traders have refused to accept the Tajir Dost Scheme introduced by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), which imposes a fixed tax on traders and wholesalers.

Aurangzeb said Pakistan increased its tax revenue by 29 per cent last year, but it was still at 8.8 per cent tax-to-GDP.

This is not sustainable at all. No country is sustainable at this level, so we need to increase it to 15 per cent, he said.

He said there was no room left to avoid taxes as the current situation, where the salaried class and the manufacturing industry were already contributing more than their fair share, cannot continue.

So my wholesalers, distributors, retailers my brothers and sisters I am requesting once again, please take a step forward to contribute to the country's economy, he said.

Talking about positive achievements, he said inflation had been reduced to single digits in August and hoped that the State Bank of Pakistan's policy rate reduction would likely follow it.

The minister stated that despite the difficulties, significant progress has been made, particularly in terms of remittances and credit ratings. He mentioned global rating agencies Fitch and Moody's upgrading Pakistan's rating by one notch.

He also noted that remittances have remained steady, reflecting the confidence of overseas Pakistanis in the country's economic management.

He stressed that achieving macroeconomic stability is essential for long-term growth. "Macroeconomic stability is the basic hygiene that we must get right," Aurangzeb said.

The press conference by the minister comes as the government faces an uphill task of convincing the traders to accept the new scheme and register, who are resisting any such move through protests.

Notably, previous efforts by different governments to bring the retail sector into the tax net failed.