Tip of the tax loss iceberg
June 29, 2021
LAHORE: Over Rs40 billion estimated losses to exchequer by smuggled tobacco products is just tip of the iceberg compared to damage dealt by myriad of other contrabands coming into the country.
It is regrettable that no scientific evaluation has been done on losses caused by smuggling. Haroon Akhtar Khan the former adviser on revenue to Nawaz Sharif stated at Mir Khalilur Rehman Society seminar in 2015 that smuggled goods worth $9 billion are imported annually in Pakistan.
He said that this denies the government of Pakistan of revenues worth Rs300 billion. However at the same seminar Ramzan Bhatti a senior Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) official, who just retired, estimated that smuggled goods worth $15 to $20 billion enter Pakistani market annually.