Khizar Hayat Abbasi,
MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider Khan has asked officers of Inland Revenue to work independently without taking outside pressure and assured THAT government will fully protect THEM in performing their responsibilities.
He said this while addressing a high level meeting of the officers of Inland Revenue Department here on Monday. The meeting chaired by Prime Minister was also attended Finance Minister, Dr Najib Naqi, Chief Secretary, Secretary Finance, Additional Chief Secretary General, Senior Member Board of Revenue, Principal Secretary, Secretary Services, Accountant General Azad Kashmir and Commissioner Income.
The Prime Minister directed the officials to enhance their performance by making sure that revenue targets are achieved within the stipulated period. Directing for modification of the tax system, Prime Minister urged for taking concrete steps to bring more people in the tax net.
He added that more avenues should be explored to collect taxes with the aim to augment income of the state and for economic development of AJK. He said that tax reforms coupled with more facilities to tax payers would restore the trust of the people on the system.
Saying that his government is determined to increase the revenue of the government, Prime Minister Farooq Haider said with the transfer of Inland Revenue Department to AJK government our responsibilities have increased manifold.
Earlier prime minister was briefed by the officials of the Inland Revenue Department about the capacity of the department, it’s manpower and revenue targets set by the department.
The PM was told that currently income tax is deducted from the salaries of 29,410 government employees while the number of others tax filers is 17,222. There are 424 Associations and 247 companies including banks and cellular phone companies that are paying tax.
He was also told that Tax Department has already exchanged information with Federal Board of Revenue and now for the first time AJK tax payers are recognized as tax filers in Pakistan. The Secretary Finance briefed the Prime Minister about the progress with regard to registration of AJK tax filers in the list of FBR.