Pakistan to Profile Citizens to Combat Rampant Tax Avoidance
- Steps include amnesty program, lowering individual tax rate
- Officials to use utility bills, credit cards to build profile
Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.
Photographer: Asim Hafeez/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Pakistan will use its national identity database to build profiles of potential taxpayers in a renewed bid to broaden its tax base, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said.
The plan aims to increase the number of taxpayers in a country where less than one percent of its 210 million people pays taxes. It seeks to plug leakages, encourage correct property valuation, lower individual tax rates and offer an amnesty program, Abbasi said in an interview in his home in Islamabad.