World Bank wants unified GST collection agency

The World Bank has asked Pakistan to adopt a national fiscal policy by aligning federal and provincial spending with constitutional mandates, merge various federal and provincial revenue agencies into a single general sales tax (GST) collection agency, and effectively tax agriculture, capital gains and real estate in the next fiscal year’s budget. “Implement the new Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation Acts (FDRLA) at the federal and provincial levels, including through development and implementation of a national medium-term fiscal framework through the FY25 budget process,” the World Bank asked the government in its latest policy advice. This is now expected to be made part of the next International Monetary Fund programme that Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb will be discussing with the lender next week in Washington on the sidelines of World Bank-IMF spring meetings. The bank demanded tangible progress on GST harmonisation across the federation and its federating units, “including through rollout of the GST portal” and move towards “rate harmonisation to facilitate tax compliance and the provision of input tax credits”.