It is quite ironic that
direct taxes in Pakistan are also being levied and collected in an indirect way.
Direct taxes contribution was 40pc in total tax receipts of the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) during 2016-17, slightly higher than the last year to stand at Rs1.343bn reflecting a growth of 13pc over the corresponding period last year.
Assertion #7: A
direct tax was merely a levy that could practically be apportioned.
governments are generally exhorted to increase their revenue collection from
direct taxes. Now, in Pakistan the government (or more appropriately, FBR) has found an easy way to fool every one concerned.
Congress enacted a variety of excise taxes and a
direct tax of 1813 of $3 million against land, houses, and slaves.
FBR Member
Direct Tax Policy said that the
direct tax collection stood at Rs 481 billion against the target of Rs 540 billion, sales tax collection stood at Rs 501 billion against the target of Rs 540 billion, federal excise duty (FED) collection was Rs 116 billion as compared to target of Rs 135 billion, and customs duty collection amounted to Rs 152 billion against target of Rs 165 billion.
However, there are doubts about this independence especially where indirect tax is concerned -
direct tax reviews are considered to be more credible.
Direct taxes usually take the form of an income tax on personal or business earnings.
For example, in 1881, the Court upheld the validity of the Civil War income tax against the claim that it was a
direct tax that hadn't been properly apportioned.
Over a 20-year period, the cumulative amount of
direct tax revenues will rise to $1.5 billion, with Yonkers collecting a total of $399.3 million.
Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa on Tuesday suggested that consumption tax should be hiked in the medium and long term in an effort to balance the ratio of
direct tax to indirect tax.
The admission, by Treasury Secretary William Waldegrave, demolished John Major's claim to have cut
direct tax.