Well... I do not agree with this logic and justification. If less than 5% people are paying taxes, I think fault lies with the Govt. & their policies that they are not stringent and strong enough to force everyone to become a Tax Payer and Active Filer.
In all such countries where tax network is extremely strong and everyone is bound to pay taxes and return files, the policies have been made by their respective Govts. and implemented in true spirit. Those who believe that people should be good enough and everything should be ideal, everyone files returns by his / her own, Utopian world to be there and Govts. are not to blame; live in fool's paradise.
Policies are made by Govts. and implemented by Govts. If matters are to be given in public's hands, I believe the most Muhazzib of the nations might not pay taxes. There must be writ of Govt. and countries survive because of it.
Again this is a flawed logic. If a person has millions or billions of Money, but he is not willing to disclose it (may be, it is black money; he got it from illegal sources, he does not want Govt. to know about it because he will then have to pay taxes, etc. etc.) and he has to pay may be 10-15 times more tax than a Filer (10,000 PKR withholding tax for a Filer VS 150,000 withholding tax for Non-Filer), no doubt he will pay more, but pay it Khushi Khushi , because it all does not matter to him, as no one is asking him about sources of Income!
This needs to be strongly checked for all those who file 0 returns. Some cases will be genuine, but most will be bluff!
Well, there are 03 categories of people here:
- The stupid ones; Active Filers! Who pay all the taxes regularly as part of their faith, and also file them with FBR (and instead of getting perks, they may come under FBR Radar, receive notices, and then Aspirin to get relief from headaches)
- Moderate ones; who pay taxes and duties but do not file with the FBR
- The smart ones; most of who never pay any sort of taxes / duties (Income tax, sales tax, etc.) and neither file with FBR
Being tax payer is not enough, filing them with relevant Govt. departments is also equally important and necessary!