Revenue failure not an NFC problem

ISLAMABAD:

The National Finance Commission (NFC) award, which provides the constitutional framework for allocating the federal government's tax revenue to the provinces for managing their annual expenses, is in the news nowadays. The allocations are made from a predefined divisible pool of taxes and duties levied and collected by the federal government.

In this regard, blaming the current share (42.5%) of the federal government in the formula for the ever-increasing debt trap has been a popular theme among many in the federal elite. They want it to be increased. This implies that the provinces are overspending. However, the increasing poverty, with 45% of people already below the poverty line, ie, their daily per capita income being below $4.2, belies this inference. What further exposes