Salaried individuals paid more than Rs. 266 billion in income tax during the first half of the fiscal year 2025–26, showing how heavily Pakistan’s tax system depends on people with documented incomes.
This amount means that nearly one out of every ten rupees collected as income tax came from salaried workers alone. Their contribution was more than double that of the real estate sector.
Data shows that non-corporate employees were the largest contributors within the salaried group, paying around Rs117 billion in taxes. Corporate employees followed with contributions of about Rs82 billion. These figures highlight the growing tax pressure on people earning fixed monthly incomes.
Despite the increase in tax collections from salaried individuals, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is still struggling to meet its overall tax collection target of Rs. 6.5 trillion for the year.
To bridge this gap, the tax authority continues to rely heavily on sectors that are already documented and easier to tax, especially salaried workers.
During the same period, income tax collected through withholding on real estate transactions rose to Rs126 billion. However, this amount still remained far below the contribution made by salaried individuals.
Meanwhile, tax payments from traders and other informal sectors remained limited, adding to the imbalance in the tax system.
Experts say this situation highlights serious structural problems in Pakistan’s revenue system. While salaried individuals continue to face rising deductions from their pay, many large segments of the economy remain under-taxed.
As a result, the salaried class continues to carry a disproportionate share of the tax burden, raising concerns about fairness, sustainability, and long-term compliance within the country’s taxation framework.
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