ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will convene an important meeting on Friday (today) for finalizing hundreds of tax exemptions and withdrawals of concessions through Statutory Regulatory Orders (SROs) in the upcoming budget.
In order to achieve a challenging revenue collection target of Rs 2,810 billion in the next fiscal year against twice revised target of Rs 2,275 billion in outgoing fiscal year, FBR requires a growth of 25 per cent in 2014-15. “PM has given clear cut instructions for not increasing tax burden on poor and lower middle class so the FBR intends to move against big fish,” said senior officials of Finance Ministry while giving background briefing.
“We will focus towards bringing those tax evaders into the net who earn a lot of money but they prefer to remain outside the tax net,” said an official, adding that the expenditures of the non filers would be monitored and utilized to maximize revenue collection.
“Today’s meeting with PM is very important as it will set the stage for finalizing upcoming Finance Bill 2014-15,” official sources said. The meeting to be convened today also has the agenda to gather guidance for the political leadership on a number of SROs which would be withdrawn in the next budget.