The government of Pakistan has adopted new measures against non-filers.
Pakistan has set up plans to remove tax dodgers’ cell phones as a form of punishment. The nation has already taken the first-ever action of showing the numbers of SIM cards that over (506,000) of its people are suspected of using, ordering the SIMs to be deactivated as long as their tax records are in order, and identifying the persons that government officials believe have not submitted taxes.
Additionally, the public can see the list of citizens in an (8,737-page PDF file) on the Internet, which was released in April 2024. The Register has decided not to provide a link to it. Although the government of Pakistan could take pleasure in targeting its people, we should not participate in this.
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The directive involving Pakistan’s list mandates that the Telecommunication Authority of the country, together with all local holders, guarantee the blocking of the SIMs named. Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb, the country’s finance minister, went higher still when he announced his country’s budget, threatening carriers that fail to ban the SIMs of identified “non-filers” of tax information with penalties of one hundred million rs ($358,000).
The budget also included a section raising the tax withholding on cell phone use from (15% to 75%) for those who have not organized their financial affairs. The budget also includes a plan to boost government operations’ digitalization, partly for tax collection purposes. Recall that in 2021, The Register brought to light problems at Pakistan’s Federal Board of Revenue due to an improperly executed migration operation and that the organization recognized that certain of its software may not be acceptable for licensing or support.
Moreover, to enable the collection of additional sales tax, a wider installation of at-the-point-of-sale technologies also received suggestions. The goal of taking action against those who dodge taxes is to boost the amount of money that the Pakistani government receives. The International Monetary Fund, which is fighting for changes it believes would maintain the economy and promote growth, is significantly invested in the country.
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