Under the reforms taking concrete shape, the tax regime that uses the tax policy as a tool to maximise revenue at the expense of investment and growth is being revamped. This follows tariff policy announced recently to ensure that tariffs would be used as an instrument of trade policy rather than revenue generation.
If implemented in letter and spirit, these reforms would meet the long-standing demand of businesses who complained that tax policies are revenue-driven rather than growth-oriented. Sustained appropriate measures would be needed, as demonstrated in the case of construction and real estate sectors, to spur manufacturing which contributes the lion’s share of direct tax revenue and exports.
ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has proposed conduct of coming local government (LG) elections across the country in three phases in view of the four-time larger magnitude of the exercise as compared to general polls, according to informed sources.
Sharing details of a series of meetings of the commission on conduct of LG polls held earlier this week, the sources told Dawn that all the provinces still wanted to delay the polls on the pretext of their intention to make substantive changes in the local government laws.
The sources said the participants, including provincial ministers and senior bureaucrats, were told that the total number of constituencies for National and provincial assemblies came to 849, whereas the number of constituencies for LG polls in Punjab alone was 25,000.
December 13, 2020
Local government elections are not in sight in any of the four provinces. This is not a good omen for democracy
The local government system (LGS) in Pakistan has never been a permanent feature of a political system. It has been adopted on
ad hoc basis by certain key players to use it for their own vested interests.
Currently, all four provinces of Pakistan are running without a local government system despite the fact that the country has had elected provincial and federal governments for more than a decade. This speaks volumes of the misplaced priorities in the country.