The country’s revenue collecting agency is waiting its new chief to be appointed from next fiscal year as extension of present chairman Ansar Javed will expire on June 30. It is surprising that no name was so far highlighted for the top slot of FBR as two days left. Tax officials said that it would be difficult for the present government to appoint the right person for the job as Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) will face tough task ahead in coming months as the government is planning to enter a new IMF loan program. The present chairman, the senior most Income Tax officer, was appointed in April 10 as his retirement was due on May 15. However, the then caretaker government extended his tenure till June 30 considering serious shortfall in revenue collection and due to budget making process. Senior tax officials said that the government should appoint chairman within the FBR, who had understanding of revenue matters. During his tenure, Ansar Javed provided the government a budget, which may not friendly for the business community and to some extent public friendly, but considering economic challenges there were ideal changes in taxation laws that will help in broadening the tax in long term basis. In the last budget there were amendments and new provisions regarding obtaining the information from banks, which was one of the difficult decision ever taken by a government despite strong lobby of banks. The senior tax officials said that the revenue collection target for the next fiscal year is over Rs2.4 trillion and to accomplish that there is need of a head who can manage the things from beginning of the fiscal year. They said that in any case if the government decided to appoint a person out of FBR or bring some old faces, who had served the FBR during reform program, would be another disaster for the FBR and for the revenue collection, which would be key for government expenditures. They said that prior to Ansar Javed, the FBR had witnessed steep fall in revenue collection as well as its reputation because of favouritism some decisions that resulted in humiliation for the government such as Vehicle Amnesty Scheme, which recently a court termed illegal. The official said that past chairmen belonging to DMG group also proved to be failure as they had no experience to manage the revenue affairs. They said that the PML-N government should consider the names in existing strength of IRS and Customs Services as most senior and sincere officers were available who could serve much better then a person from outside FBR.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Jun 2013 10:59:59 +0000
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