Open AccessShifting and Incidence of Indirect Taxes on Tobacco and Petroleum Products in Pakistan
Author(s) -
Mohammad Irfan
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
pakistan development review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.154
H-Index - 26
ISSN - 0030-9729
DOI - 10.30541/v13i1pp.66-87
Subject(s) - excise , tax deferral , economics , tax incidence , resource (disambiguation) , petroleum , public economics , indirect tax , macroeconomics , tax reform , gross income , computer network , paleontology , biology , computer science , state income tax
Indirect taxes have always occupied a dominant position in thetax structure of Pakistan. This has worried economists of variousinclinations because of the widespread belief that indirect taxes tendto be regressive and interfere with efficient resource allocations. Theresource allocations effects of such taxes is not considered in thispaper which restricts itself to an analysis of the incidence of exciseduties on tobacco products and petroleum products. Prior to the levy ofexport duties in 1972, two of the most important sources of indirecttaxes were excise and import duties on petroleum and tobacco products.Together these groups accounted for roughly 60 per cent of excise dutycollec¬tions and one third of indirect taxes in 1969-70. Moreover,additional taxes levied year after year seldom by-pass these two groups.A detailed analysis of the incidence of these two taxes will, therefore,constitute a necessary and important feature of the incidence of taxesin Pakistan.