Amnesty for the most Wanted "Non-Filers Gang"
Normally one associates the word amnesty with old cowboy days, outlaws like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid or Jesse James or Billy the kid. All were robbers and killers but I don’t even think they received a pardon or amnesty for their crimes even though they are legendry in American history.
Pakistan has its own share of fiscal outlaws the notorious “non-filer traders Gang” who have spread their "under the counter" merchandising network around the country with their “double barreled” books of entry, recording one set of figures for the taxman and another set for their own greedy Rs. Rs. Rs. eyes.
An amnesty is letting off those individuals who have broken the law. The built in incentive is that you will not be punished in the form of a fine or sent to prison, and gently allowed to go about your business provided you don’t behave badly again and put right the wrongs already committed. The latter action seems sensible, for example supposing you have robbed a bank of 100 million rupees and you receive a warrant for your arrest for armed robbery, an amnesty could say “ok you will not be punished by imprisonment provided you give back the 100 million rupees and stop your dastardly behavior in the future!”
Our current tax amnesty for the “non-filer traders Gang” has put a spin on the meaning of amnesty. The government’s amnesty scheme AKA the “income tax (amendment) act 2016” is a masterpiece in Double Dutch in English. As a native English speaker I found my head spinning and my brain being put through a mangle when attempting to read and understand it. If you want to experience the same then just visit https://download1.fbr.gov.pk/Docs/2016111712220966DraftBill2016.pdf
but don’t say I did not warn you!
The fact is that “outlaw fiscal traders AKA the Non-filers Traders Gang” will be treated with a velvet glove under the amnesty scheme, not only will they not face any punishment for evading tax but they will only have to pay a fraction of that paid by good decent law abiding tax payers (I would request the reader to say the last sentence out load in a Texan drawl). The tax payable is something like 1% of the working capital in the tax year 2015 provided it’s not more than Rs50m. confused? You should be! I'll be seeing yah!
Chief Financial Officer
9 年Shahid Bhatti a title that made the article interesting
Chief Financial Officer
9 年Title of your article has made the amnesty bill more interesting and should be included in amendment bill before its approval.
Assistant Professor at National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences, FAST-NU
9 年Couldn't agree more. Well said!
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9 年People need to speak out loud about it. Nicely communicated and highlighted an onther perspective of this amnesty.
Business Development | Strategy & Business Planning | Sales | Customer Service & Experience | Talent Development | Brand Management and Marketing | Project Management
9 年Great discouragement for the filer group and unfair treatment of the govt inspite of recovering the tax deficit. In reality they will lose the opportunity for expanding the tax base by taking such steps.