ISLAMABAD: Terming the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) automated Track & Trace (T&T) System crucial to check mass tax evasion, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday directed the law minister to work on getting vacated the stay order by the Sindh High Court (SHC).

Chairing a meeting of the federal cabinet, the prime minister asked Barrister Farogh Naseem to convince the SHC that the non-implementation of the automated system would cause billions of rupees losses to the national exchequer.

The SHC had issued a stay order against the FBR’s proposed system, while the tax authorities have already announced plans to roll out the system by June.

The premier said that the FBR had been making efforts for the last 15 years to implement the Track & Trace (T&T) System; however he regretted that the move was sabotaged every time.

The premier said tax evasion led to imposition of indirect taxes by the government which inflated the prices of commodities of everyday use.

Mr Khan said a big sector of the economy including tobacco, cement and sugar were witnessing mass tax evasion, adding that sugar industry alone did not pay the tax of Rs400 billion in five years.

In the tobacco industry, he said, only 19pc of the tax was paid by two big companies while the 40pc was being evaded resulting in loss of billions to the country.

The T&T system aims at providing minimum human interface, preventing leakage of revenue, under-reporting sales of specified goods and to ensure proper payment of duty and taxes.

Audit of loss-making SoEs

Briefing the media after the cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Science and Technology Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain along with Industries and Production Minister Hammad Azhar said forensic audit of 10 loss-making entities would be carried out under the directives of the federal cabinet.

Mr Fawad said Pakistan Railways, Sui Southern Gas Pipeline Company, Pakistan International Airlines were among the enterprises which were running in losses, adding that the audit would be completed by June 30.

He said 51 out of 85 loss-making state-owned enterprises (SoEs) have become profitable due to prudent policies of the government.

New gas connections

Mr Fawad said the cabinet was informed that so far this fiscal year 400,000 new gas connections had already been provided whereas the target of 600,000 would be achieved by June 30.

The next year the target would be issuing 1.2 million new gas connections. He said so far only 27pc residents had been provided piped gas facility whereas 67pc were still without this important facility.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2021