KARACHI, May 4: President Gen Pervez Musharraf says he is satisfied that reference against the Chief Justice of Supreme Court is “very legal and very constitutional”.

He said that his position demanded that he kept his “personal relations aside and decide on merit”. “Now it is up to the judiciary to decide.”

He was addressing the first national conference on tax administration reforms programme held at a local hotel here on Friday.

President Musharraf said the revenue collection target for the next year should be Rs1 trillion and that the aim for next 10 years is to cross the mark of Rs4 trillion.

The two-day moot was organised by the Central Board of Revenue (CBR). The president said: “Now we are targeting a revenue collection of Rs 835 billion but we expect Rs900 billion and it is hoped that the target would be met.”

He said: “We have to increase the revenue collection and pay the taxes.”

President Musharraf said: “Even now, our tax-to-GDP ratio is low. However, we can proudly say that the revenue has risen from Rs304 billion over the years and now we are targeting Rs835 billion.” He said that next year “we must cross Rs1 trillion of revenue collection”.

The president said that with all the reforms and plans that have been chalked out, “in the coming 10 years, we are targeting to cross Rs4 trillion”.

President Musharraf said reforms and economic policies pursued by the government had helped in improving the country’s economy.

He said restructuring of the CBR had also helped in substantially increasing revenue collection.

President Gen Musharraf said that with this, the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) had also gone up to Rs415 billion last year from a mere Rs70 billion.

The president pointed out that currently 20 mega projects were being carried out, which would benefit people a lot.—Agencies