ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Mohammad Jehanzeb Khan has said that government wants to bring more people under the tax net following reduction in taxes.
Action was being taken against those involved in the illegal sale of cigarettes, he said, adding that they were ready to review the taxes on the cigarette industry.
According to official sources, federal health secretary has blamed FBR saying that cigarettes became cheaper due to reduction in taxes and millions of people died due to smoking.
Sources added that federal health secretary revealed that cigarette production of many companies had increased manifold, adding revenue collection from the cigarette industry stood at Rs114 billion in 2015 which dropped to Rs88 billion in 2016. A probe should be conducted in this regard.
Sources further added that while responding health secretary FBR chairman Mohammad Jehanzeb Khan said the government wanted to bring more people under the tax net following reduction in taxes and action was being taken against those involved in the illegal sale of cigarettes.