Islamabad, Feb. 4: The Federal Board of revenue in Pakistan has said in its latest report that only three percent of the country’s business outfits have paid taxes for fiscal 2007-08.

The News quoted a senior official of the board as saying that out of the 45,000 industrial and commercial units registered in Pakistan, only 1,352 major units contributed 94.1 per cent of the total tax collection for the year.

"This is most alarming situation for the economy that slumps in the tide of rising terror that disrupts the growth and even the operation of trade and industry, leading to downswing in tax collection by 23 per cent in June-January period of 2007-08 (current fiscal year)," the official said.

This slump has forced the FBR to down-fix the tax collection target for the year 2007-08 by Rs. 150 billion, FBR sources said.

Last year, the collection stood at Rs. 841.4 billion, and if the FBR collects Rs. 850 billion this year, the net improvement would be that of Rs. 8.6 billion, probably the lowest collection in Pakistan’s history. (ANI)