The Balochistan government has officially introduced its online taxing system; this method of e-payment has been initiated in order to increase revenue collection and promote the timely payment of tax in the province. Finance Minister, Mir Zahoor Buledi said that a digital system would increase the transparency of tax payment, which would help in building trust amongst the taxpayers.
A tripartite meeting was held amongst Balochistan’s Finance Department, State Bank, and 1-Link in which Mir Zahoor Buledi stated that the aim was to build taxpayers’ trust and facilitate them enough to easily carry out business in the province.
“The installation of an online tax collection system will eventually bring sustainable reforms in revenue generation of the provincial government,” he said.
Balochistan’s Chief Minister, Jam Kamal Khan had the vision of a digitalized system that could in turn help overcome the budget deficit and expedite the proceedings within the business sector effectively. This method was also meant to be efficient enough to allow taxpayers to make the required payment from any part of the country with ease.
The first phase of this system was to allow sales tax on services to be collected through alternate delivery channels, which would be an added convenience for the people. The next phase will instill taxes being collected from excise departments, Board of Revenue, and minerals department, which would all also be brought under the digitalized system in order to accelerate tax collection.
Mir Zahoor Buledi termed this switch to digitalization as historic and said that disbursement of taxes would now be possible through several different mediums, such as internet banking, mobile banking, ATMs, Easypaisa, and others; these methods would be straightforward and transparent enough to eradicate any doubt of extortion and would help in building the citizens’ trust.
