Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Rashid Mahmood Langrial announced a major crackdown on tax evasion in the tobacco sector following a successful enforcement drive in the sugar industry. The FBR increased sugar sector tax collections by 39 percent without raising tax rates. Now, it plans similar strict measures for tobacco, retail, and other key sectors to improve compliance and revenue.
Langrial revealed that the government is expanding digital monitoring tools and working closely with intelligence agencies to detect tax evasion. The Intelligence Bureau is overseeing FBR staff to prevent corruption and collusion, which led to the removal of dishonest officials within the revenue board. This shows the government’s commitment to transparency and accountability in tax enforcement.
He said non-compliant sugar mills were forced to close due to the crackdown. Now, the tobacco sector is the next focus, along with poultry, where early monitoring exposed millions of rupees in unpaid taxes. The FBR plans to extend these efforts to other sectors to widen the tax base and reduce illegal business activity.
Langrial also introduced a new 15 percent tax on passive income, compared to 29 percent on active income, to encourage more business investment. He explained this new tax rate aims to reduce the bias against investors and create a fairer tax environment that supports economic growth.
Finally, Langrial warned against comparing salaried workers with construction sector incomes, saying such comparisons are misleading. He stressed that tax policies must consider different types of income separately, highlighting the complexity of designing fair tax rules across various industries.