TAX COLLECTION MISSES TARGETS; TOP OF TARIN'S AGENDA FOR

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ISLAMABAD 001137 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON EFIN EINV PGOV PK SUBJECT: TAX COLLECTION MISSES TARGETS; TOP OF TARIN'S AGENDA FOR NEW BUDGET ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Reforming tax policy and improving revenue collection have become a policy focus of the current government. Finance Advisor Shaukat Tarin has made broadening the tax base a lynch pin of his economic strategy for the coming fiscal year. In spite of stepping up collection efforts for the year ending June 30, however, the GOP is not expected to meet IMF targets due to a slowdown in manufacturing, which is responsible for over 60 percent of direct taxes, and a decline in imports, which causes a resulting decrease in customs duties and sales taxes. In the new budget, the GOP plans to introduce a value added tax (VAT) and to widen the tax net to cover sectors that have been historically under-taxed, possibly including agriculture, which has largely been tax-exempt due to the political influence of large landowners. This new emphasis on revenue collection has not gone over well with some multinational companies, which feel that they are being unfairly squeezed, primarily because they have always paid up in the past. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) All Sectors Do Not Contribute Equitably: Agriculture accounts for almost 20 percent of GDP and only one percent of direct tax revenues; industry contributes 21 percent of GDP and 62 percent of the tax base; services contribute over 50 percent to GDP, and 26 percent of the direct tax base. Customs duties account for 40 percent of indirect taxes. The tax base is also very narrow, with 70-80 percent of indirect taxes coming from only 11 items. The petroleum sector is responsible for 20 percent of tax revenues, IT/telecom for 17-18 percent, while the banking sector contributes 10-12 percent. According to Malik Tiwana, Secretary of Tax Reforms and Policy, 70 percent of direct tax revenue comes from 200 large corporations (refineries, banks, telecoms). Although tax collection has increased in nominal terms by over 300 percent in the past ten years, the tax to GDP ratio has remained stagnant or even declined. ¶3. (SBU) At the heart of this imbalance is the agricultural sector. Agricultural inputs such as fertilizer are heavily subsidized by the government (we have been told that the GOP supplies domestic gas to urea factories at one-fifth the cost it is provided to power plants, for example, despite the desperate power shortage),while at the present time the GOP's support price for wheat is higher than international prices (one reason why inflation remains stubbornly high). In spite of the fact that substantial agricultural profits are almost guaranteed, not only are large farmers exempt from income tax, but many routinely avoid taxes on other sources of income by incorrectly claiming them as agricultural. ¶4. (SBU) There are also enormous leakages from the existing tax base. The GOP has a self-assessment scheme which is not backed by a strong audit system, resulting in massive under-filing. One finance official estimates the revenue lost through under-reporting to be in neighborhood of $2.5 to 3.1 billion annually. Another source at FBR noted that tax payers can file petitions against the audit process which can take years to be decided in court. ¶5. (SBU) Tarin Committed to Improving Tax Performance: At the first International Monetary Fund (IMF) review of Pakistan's performance under the standby arrangement in February, Fund officials gave the GOP the option of reducing its revenue target from $17 billion to $15.6 billion, due to slower than expected GDP growth. But Finance Advisor Shaukat Tarin insisted that the higher figures be maintained, as this would give the GOP extra incentive to improve the tax to GDP ratio. Tarin has told us repeatedly that broadening the tax net and stepping up collections are among his highest priorities. He said that he visits the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) every morning and drinks tea with the collectors to discuss strategy with them. He is keen to change the current mindset of simply targeting those who already are compliant (e.g., large international corporations) to focusing on those entities which routinely evade their obligations. In the past several months, the FBR has stepped up its collection efforts, posting undercover agents at restaurants and other establishments that conduct much of their business on a cash basis. However, Tarin recently briefed the G-8 ambassadors that the IMF tax targets were ISLAMABAD 00001137 002 OF 003 unlikely to be met, and that the tax to GDP ratio remains extremely low, in spite of these efforts. (Note: According to FBR officials, the tax to GDP ratio currently is 9.6 percent - the target is 10.2 percent this year, 11 to 12 percent by FY 2010-2011. End Note) Tarin explained that the output of Pakistan's industrial base, which provides over sixty percent of the tax revenue, has shrunk significantly during the past year, and, since imports are down as well, customs revenues have also suffered. ¶6. (SBU) New Budget Will Contain Signficant Tax Reforms: Tarin told the G-8 Ambassadors May 18 that addressing the tax collection issue was the single most important item in the upcoming budget. It is unclear, however, whether the agricultural sector will be brought into the tax net in the upcoming fiscal year. But Tarin claimed that the new budget will introduce a carbon tax and will eliminate "two of the four untaxed areas." Afzal nau Bahar, Member, Tax Policy and Reform at the FBR, described how the GOP has been working with the World Bank and DFID through a five-year program to reform the tax collection structure and modernize its infrastructure. The FBR is tightening up on sales tax evasion by posting officials in prominent hotels and restaurants, establishing a high powered tax policy board, and tightening audit standards. The GOP, which initiated a value added tax in the early nineties, but quickly rescinded it when it was unable to implement the tax efficiently, plans to re-introduce the VAT in the coming fiscal year. Bahar emphasized that the GOP wants a broad-based, comprehensive VAT law. The proposed law will be introduced during the 2009-10 fiscal year and be debated in Parliament. It has yet to be decided whether the VAT would be managed at the provincial or federal level. The second focus of tax reform will be removing some of the exemptions under the income tax and sales tax laws. ¶7. (SBU) Multinationals Feel the Heat: There appears to be growing dissatisfaction among those multinational businesses, which in general have an excellent record of tax compliance (e.g., U.S. companies paid $500 million in direct and indirect taxes to the GOP last year),with the increased pressure tactics the GOP is bringing to bear. Officials of a large U.S. company with significant investments in Pakistan told the Ambassador that its factories had been shut down twice in the past two months as a result of dispute over a relatively small amount of tax, which the company was contesting in court. The resulting loss of tax revenue due to the closure was much greater than the originally contested amount. The officials also noted that they had been waiting for years for a much larger tax refund owed to them by the GOP. ¶8. (SBU) The Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in its pre-budget proposals to the GOP, suggested that services and agriculture be brought into the tax net, as well as any individual with an annual income over $3,750. They recommended that the maximum corporate tax rate be reduced from 35 to 25 percent for manufacturing and 30 percent for non-manufacturing business. When a two percent workers' welfare fund levy and a five percent workers' profit participation fund are added into the mix, the corporate tax rate approaches 42 percent, which makes Pakistan a relatively unattractive investment destination compared to its regional neighbors. The Overseas Investors' Chamber of Commerce and Industry recommended mandatory documentation of all sectors of the economy, including real estate, agriculture, capital markets and manufacturing. In April 8 meetings of the President's Task Force on Private Sector Development, business leaders noted the impact of tax-avoiding firms on the development of national industry. They asserted that "big" business in Pakistan is not big by international standards and needs to expand domestically to attain economies of scale. Competitors in the gray market have a substantial cost advantage from tax avoidance, resulting in stunted growth of formal firms. More consistent application of the tax burden, the Task Force members asserted, would create a more dynamic industrial sector. ¶9. (SBU) Comment: Although Tarin has told us that he intends to tax agriculture, this issue has long been extremely difficult to address due to the feudal nature of Pakistan's agricultural economy and the fact that many influential politicians are also large ISLAMABAD 00001137 003 OF 003 landowners. Even if agricultural income remains outside the tax net, however, there is scope for greatly improving tax collection rates by improving the audit function and the appeals procedure, as well as stepping up enforcement measures to ensure those who are required to pay under the current policy actually do so. Tarin's emphasis on moving away from the "traditional" targets, i.e., large corporations which are already shouldering a disproportionate share of the tax burden, is also a good sign. PATTERSON