Azad Kashmir inland revenue misses Rs 85 billion tax target by wide margin

MUZAFFARABAD: The Inland Revenue Department of Azad Kashmir failed to achieve the local tax target of Rs 85 billion set for the financial year 2025-26.

Only Rs 37 billion could be collected by May 15; the recovery of the remaining Rs 48 billion has become a mystery for the Inland Revenue Department.

Instead of achieving the target, the Inland Revenue Ministry has started a new series of looting from within the department, under which junior officers are being promoted, and their selection boards are being made so that the interests of the current Minister of Inland Revenue can be protected in the future.

According to departmental sources, Rs 50 million has been collected in the name of the Selection Board within the Inland Revenue Department, which is reported to have been delivered to important government figures, including the Minister of Inland Revenue, through an officer promoted to Grade 18.

In this first, Rs 1.2 billion was received in the Food Department for GST exemption in the name of cabinet minutes. Rumors and speculations are rife in Azad Kashmir’s capital, Muzaffarabad, while the busy offices of the Secretariat are openly discussing the revenue collections.

According to sources, the responsibility for the failure to achieve the tax targets is being placed on the local political situation and the Joint Public Action Committee.

On the other hand, by giving a free hand to open closed cigarette factories in Mirpur division and sell them in the market by making fake cigarettes, a few members of the ruling elite have earned billions of rupees in a few months, which have been collected from the cigarette factory owners as extortion money for the upcoming general elections.

Despite the confirmed reports of ongoing looting in the Inland Revenue Department, the silence of the relevant institutions has raised new questions.

The Ministry of Inland Revenue claims that they have the support of those who monitor the situation, so there is no danger. The talk of looting in the Inland Revenue Department has gained fame from within the country to the international level.