Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said Monday that tax collection has more than doubled during five years of the government, rising from Rs 1 trillion in 2008-09 to Rs 2 trillion in 2012-13.

“We have tried to collect taxes from rich and wealthy people under a planned strategy in an effort to raise revenue for development”, he said while responding to queries from media at the Brands of the Year Award ceremony at a hotel in Karachi.The minister said the government has also contained its expenses to 6 per cent of the GDP which is well below the inflation rates in the country.

He pointed out that federal government has provided an additional Rs 5 trillion to the provinces under National Finance Commission (NFC) Award. Now it was upto the people and the civil society to ask the provinces where they have spent these funds, he added.

Dr Shaikh said the provinces have raised their expenses by 21 per cent after receiving additional funds from the federation.Before NFC, provinces were having 48 per cent of the divisible pool. Now they have 70 per cent and if funds to FATA, AJK is added this, the total comes to more than 77 per cent,” he said.