Government officials and ministers, especially the FBR Chairman, are attempting to change the narrative of economic strangulation through higher taxes by passing the buck to the private sector to improve compliance. The message between the lines is clear. If you do not improve compliance, then live with high tax rates.

A few private sector representatives, based on speeches and interaction with the government economic team in the recent two-day Dialogue on Economy organized by the Pakistan Business Council (PBC) in Islamabad last week, felt that the government believes they must accept collective punishment due to those who evade taxes.

The FBR chairman, as the last speaker of the event, took control of the room full of private sector tycoons, using McKinsey-style slide deck where he and his team emphasized that tax leakages are concentrated in the top five percent, particularly in the top one percent. It is a smart move by an intelligent person trying to shape a new narrative. It is not possible for any government to defend higher, even punitive rates of taxes, so he shifted the focus to compliance by putting back the money on those who pay. In effect, he came up with an argument that is seemingly impossible to........

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