KARACHI, 6 April 2005 — Pakistan has launched a major $149 million reform plan funded by the World Bank, an official said yesterday.
The administrative shake-up, being implemented over the next five years, is aimed at increasing revenues in a country where only 1.1 percent of the total 150 million population pay income tax.
It will involve encouraging taxpayers to assess themselves instead of relying on a national inspection system that many Pakistanis regard as corrupt, as well as increasing automation, officials said.
“It would increase the revenue and the base of taxpayers, improve efficiency and make the tax regime friendly for the payers,” Central Board of Revenue spokesman Hafeez Mughal told AFP.
The World Bank is providing $102.9 million of the total, while Britain’s Department for International Development has allocated $23 million and the Pakistan government has given $23.1 million, he said. The reform plan is due to be completed by June 2009.
The tax agency said on its website that the reforms were the single most important economic task for the government as it tackles Pakistan’s “deep” fiscal crisis.
