Islamabad : Brigadier (retd) Aslam Khan, Chairman of Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW), said on Sunday that some telecom companies are cheating consumers by employing different tactics. At the same time, the government is being defrauded by evading taxes to the tune of billions of rupees.
The masses are tired of inflation, and the country is on the verge of bankruptcy. Still, some greedy corporations are not ready to fulfill their commitments and discharge national obligations by paying due taxes.
Brigadier (retd) Aslam Khan said in a statement issued today that some mobile phone operators deduct more taxes from consumers than they transfer to the government, and there seems to be no end to this practice as authorities prefer to go soft on the telecom sector for obvious reasons.
Mobile phone operators also overcharge subscribers, who end up paying more money for less talk time, and other tactics are also employed to fleece consumers, he said, adding that one reason for this continued trend of economic crime is the lack of capacity of the tax collectors to monitor the cellular companies.
There are some underdeveloped areas in the country where some taxes are not applicable. However, few companies use this opportunity to tax consumers residing in the said areas and illegally earn hundreds of millions of rupees.
He said that in 2012, NAB took action against five cellular companies, alleging their involvement in massive sales tax evasion and federal excise duty worth Rs 47 billion.
During the same year, it was reported that a leading company was earning Rs 80 billion to Rs 85 billion annually and had paid only Rs 2.5 billion in tax during the last five years.
He informed that some telecom companies were involved in massive tax evasion through ‘transfer pricing’ and by inflating their imports of machinery and other strategies.
Similarly, in October 2020, he said, the Federal Board of Revenue in Islamabad sealed the main business premises of cellular company Jazz, alleging non-payment of Rs 25.393 billion in income tax. Still, the company claimed that there was nothing wrong on their part.
He informed that a company charged with tax evasion of Rs 300 million in 2016 on account of misdeclaration in the import of equipment has recently been found to be evading taxes to the tune of Rs 98 billion.
Aslam Khan said that it is yet to be seen whether this influential company, which claims to be among the largest foreign investors and taxpayers in the country’s corporate sector, is dealt with according to the law or given leniency as usual.
He added that foreign investors are welcome to invest in Pakistan for their positive contribution to society and the economy. Still, robbery in the business’s name shouldn’t be allowed when the country is crumbling due to the economic downturn.
All companies must learn about corporate ethics and integrity, as they make hundreds of billions of rupees annually in Pakistan but evade taxes. When caught, they try to avoid handing over records to authorities.
