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Tax is now India vs Pakistan. Here’s where both sides get it wrong

No matter what some Pakistani experts might say, India's gap is not the same as Pakistan's disconnect when it comes to the tax base. Start with the latest official numbers.

There is a certain inevitability to South Asian discourse. Whether the subject is cricket, cinema, or tax administration, India will, sooner or later, be dragged into the room. Not always by invitation. Often by instinct.

The latest theatre of this familiar drama is Pakistan’s ongoing debate over the effectiveness — or alleged ineffectiveness — of its Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). The trigger was a set of startling figures on the country’s narrow sales tax base. These, in turn, sparked a sharply worded opinion article in Business Recorder by Abdul Rauf Shakoori, Huzaima Bukhari, and Dr Ikramul Haq. Their argument was that Pakistan’s wafer-thin sales tax base raises questions about the FBR’s very “viability and existence”. The provocation was strong enough to travel quickly through policy circles.

Pakistan, the article noted, had only about 185,501 active sales tax filers as of 7 April 2026, while the number of commercial and industrial electricity connections was said to be around 6 million. That mismatch was framed not merely as a compliance problem, but as an institutional indictment.

The argument escalated quickly, as such arguments do.  A swift rejoinder came from Zehra Farooq, Secretary Revenue Operations & Analysis at the FBR. In a long thread on X, she pushed back with comparative data from India, as is often the case when critics across the border need a contrast. When defenders need a rebuttal, India is the example. We are, one might say, the subcontinent’s most overused footnote. In this case, Farooq cited an FY 2023-24 breakdown of India’s Income Tax Department collections.

“India’s enforcement share: 3.3%. Pakistan’s comparable figure is routinely cited at 4-5%. These numbers are........

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