Pakistan, June 6 -- The government on Friday announced a "small trader scheme" under which small retailers will pay a fixed 1% tax on sales in return for exemptions from tax audits and requirements related to digital transaction systems, with officials projecting annual revenue of Rs50 billion.

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb unveiled the scheme at a press conference alongside Minister of State for Finance Bilal Azhar Kayani, who described the initiative as a "win-win solution" for the government and small-scale traders.

It is the second such initiative by the government aimed at bringing traders into the tax net after an earlier "Tajir Dost" scheme failed to deliver the desired results. Officials said the new programme had been dev...