Public finances are needed for rendering public services; ranging from security, justice and other basic amenities like health, education, etc. One of the striking features of the countries that made extraordinary development in almost every field of life is that they had the capacity to raise much higher tax revenues as a percentage of GDP. Of course, some other factors …

Public debt in the country has exceeded the subscribed limit of 60pc of GDP placed on it by the Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation (FRDL) Act, 2005. It has happened because of excessive fiscal deficits in the past years. For instance, the fiscal deficit in 2012-13 was 8.2pc of GDP. An immediate explanation for large fiscal deficits is inadequate tax …

No state can survive or live with dignity in the comity of nations without raising sufficient revenues required for financing productive and non-productive expenditures. Pakistan’s public debt, by March 2015, was recorded at Rs16.936 billion or around 62pc of the GDP. The primary source of increase in public debt is the domestic borrowings to finance fiscal deficit. Thus the foremost …

Conducive environment for starting and operating a local firm is crucial for accelerating economic growth. One of the top priorities of the sates is, therefore, to create business-friendly environment; inevitable for achieving higher economic growth and reducing unemployment. Nevertheless, conflicts and violence frustrate such efforts’ gear toward establishing peace and security as a public good. The above lines describe the …

In Pakistan, tax collection as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) is considerably low when compared to similar economies. The ratio is low for both direct and indirect taxes. In 2012-13, tax-GDP ratio for direct and indirect taxes collected by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) was 3.2pc and 5.3pc, respectively. Overall the ratio was 8.5pc. There are numerous …

Pakistan has accumulated huge external and domestic debt mostly as a result of borrowing to finance persistent budget deficit and external current account deficit. In the instant write-up, the writer has delved into the causes that have led to this worrisome situation, and has also proposed some remedial measures to improve the state of affairs. Historically, Pakistan has been facing …

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is under immense pressure to improve tax compliance in the country. It’s because the number of income tax return filers is consistently lower than what is required. Low taxpayer compliance is a matter of serious concern for the government as tax-GDP ratio remained less than 10pc during the last decade. The income tax returns …

In Pakistan, tax collection is significantly lower than the actual potential given the size of the country’s economy as tax-to-GDP ratio has been less than 10 percent for the last decade or so. Combining together the tax collection on account of income tax, sales tax, federal excise duty and customs duty, this ratio is far less as compared to similar …

Investment occupies pivotal position in the growth equation. Governments employ combination of fiscal and monetary policies to optimize investment activity so as to create jobs and achieve higher economic growth — the two major macroeconomic goals. In the federal budget for 2015-16, the government of Pakistan has adopted several tax measures as fiscal instruments to encourage investment activity in the …

Importance of tax revenue in the fiscal system of a country cannot be negated because it is a leading source of revenue for balancing the budgets. Tax revenue constitutes major component of revenue receipts in all around the world with the exception of a few natural-resource-rich countries where non-tax revenue is a major source of revenue. It is also not …