The government is inviting the top taxpayers of the country to have dinner with Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has compiled a list of Pakistan’s top 50 taxpayers to be invited for the dinner. A summary has been sent to the Finance Ministry to seek time from the PM in this regard. The list includes both individual taxpayers and large taxpaying companies.
The top taxpaying companies are Oil & Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL), Pakistan Petroleum (PPL), Pakistan State Oil (PSO), and large banks including United Bank Limited (UBL), MCB, National Bank, Silk Bank along with other companies including telecom firms.
The heads, Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), or the representatives of these companies will attend the dinner with the PM. The individual taxpayers invited to the dinner include Arif Habib, Syed Shahzad Hassan Shah, Hassan Mansha, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Wazir Ali Pardhan, Syed Irshad Ahmed, Mian Amir Mansha, Imtiaz Hussain, Babar Ali, Rehan Hussain, Abdul Ghaffar Memon, Malik Shahid, and others.
As per the sources in the Finance Ministry, the dinner has been organized to encourage the taxpayers and also to get their recommendations regarding policies to enhance the tax revenue.
Practical recommendations will make it to the budget. Notably, the premier had promised, soon after he took the oath as a PM, that he will organize a dinner with the top 50 taxpayers every year.
Ministers including Finance Minister Asad Umar, State Minister for Revenue Hammad Azhar, Minister for Planning and Development Khusro Bakhtiar, Adviser to the PM for Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood, the FBR chairman, his team, and heads of the investment board, Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), and other organizations will also be present at the dinner.
