Amid financial crisis, Pak PM urges citizens to declare assets, pay tax

"In the last ten year, Pakistan debt went from Rs 6,000 crore to 30,000 crore. We need some urgent steps to bring the country out of this crises." Khan said while addressing the nation, a day ahead of the national budget

Islamabad: At a time when Pakistan is grappling to overcome severe financial crises, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday urged his countrymen to declare their assets and pay off taxes by June 30.

"In the last ten year, Pakistan debt went from Rs 6,000 crore to 30,000 crore. We need some urgent steps to bring the country out of this crises." Khan said while addressing the nation, a day ahead of the national budget.

"I am appealing to all of you to take part in the Asset Declaration Scheme that we have brought because if we don't pay taxes, we will not be able to raise our country up," Khan said.

Last month, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government had announced a new tax amnesty scheme to offer non-tax filers an opportunity to come clean until June 30.

Notably, the previous PML-N government announced four such schemes to different groups that fetched around Rs121 billion and brought only 80,000 people into the tax net. However, the Imran Khan-led government has said that this amnesty scheme is "different" from the previous one.

In Pakistan, only 1.4 million people out of 200 million file their annual income tax returns, reported Gulf News.

Urging nation to pay taxes, Imran said, "This is the country that has [the] capability and if passion comes in, we can at the very least gather Rs10,000 billion every year," he said.

The ruling PTI government is set to present its first budget for the fiscal year 2019-20 in the National Assembly on June 11. It will be presented by Khan's Advisor on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs Dr Hafeez Shaikh.

The government on Sunday announced that it is planning to present an austerity-oriented budget providing a 'slight' relief to middle and low-grade government employees, including military personnel, with no increase in the salaries of army officials of higher ranks.

Interestingly, last month, the Pakistan government had reached an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout package of USD 6 billion.

Besides the assistance by IMF, Pakistan will receive additional funds worth nearly USD 2-3 billion from institutions like the Asian Development Bank and World Bank.

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