ISLAMABAD, MAR 4: /DNA/ – On Monday, Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) Chairman Brigadier (retd) Aslam Khan urged action against a cellphone company for a Rs98 billion tax fraud.

He said that despite freezing its bank accounts and sealing its vital business hubs in the past, the corporation still defrauds the government and the public.

People are sick of inflation, and the country is near insolvency, but some greedy corporations refuse to pay taxes and discharge their national obligations.

Brig. (retd) Aslam Khan stated today that some mobile phone providers deduct more taxes from consumers than they transfer to the government, and this seems to be ongoing as authorities prefer to go gentle on the telecom sector for obvious reasons.

They also overcharge subscribers, and tax collectors’ inability to monitor cellular companies contributes to economic crime.

He informed that some taxes don’t apply in impoverished areas, but some companies exploit this chance to illegally tax consumers in the region, earning hundreds of millions of rupees.

NAB accused five cellular businesses of evading sales tax and federal excise duty of Rs 47 billion in 2012. One significant corporation earned Rs 80 billion to Rs 85 billion annually and paid only Rs 2.5 billion in taxes over the past five years.  

He revealed that certain telecom businesses used ‘transfer pricing’ and exaggerated machinery imports to evade taxes. Federal Board of Revenue in Islamabad sealed Jazz’s main business facilities in October 2020 for non-payment of Rs 25.393 billion in income tax.

He noted that Pakistan welcomes international investors who benefit society and the economy. Still, robbery in the business’s name shouldn’t be forgiven while the economy is tanking.