November 18, 2001	Sunday	Ramazan 2, 1422

ISLAMABAD, Nov 17: President General Pervez Musharraf approved on Saturday the restructuring plan for Central Board of Revenue (CBR) that authorizes it to spend, recruit and offer compensation to its efficient officers without seeking prior permission from the ministry of finance.

The president also approved setting up of a separate tax office in Karachi to deal with top 150 taxpayers who pay over Rs100 billion annually. “The president, who chaired the meeting, has approved certain autonomy for CBR but it will remain a Revenue Division under his ministry,” said Minister for Finance Shaukat Aziz.

Speaking at a news conference, he said that the restructuring of the CBR would be carried out in line with the recommendations of Syed Shahid Hussain Committee on Tax Administration.

Shahid Hussain Committee, IMF and the World Bank had proposed full autonomy for CBR by turning it into a “Revenue Service” but that was not accepted. “We believe that enough autonomy has been given to the CBR,” he said when asked why recommendations of tax committee and donor agencies were not accepted fully to make the organization a really corruption free. “The chairman CBR had asked for autonomy with respect to spending, recruitment and compensation, which was approved by the president,” he said.

He said the chairman, CBR, would have all budgetary controls and would be entitled to carve out his own administrative policy including the induction of new staff from public and private sector on increased salaries. “There will not be any interference in the affairs of the CBR,” he said when asked how could there be any free hand for chairman when bureaucratic hurdles have not been removed. He was of the view that necessary checks and balances should remain be there to ensure smooth functioning of the CBR.

In this regard, he said, a supervisory council headed by himself would be set up and include minister for commerce, secretary general, finance, secretary, establishment and chairman CBR. This council, he said, would supervise the affairs of the CBR and ensure that taxpayers were not harassed. “But we will also make sure that revenue is increased substantially,” the finance minister said. Secretary General, Finance, Moeen Afzal, the chairman, CBR, Riaz Malik and Economic Advisor of the ministry of finance Dr Ashfaque Hasan Khan were also present on the occasion and answered various questions.

According to the recommendations, Mr Aziz said, member human resource management, member audit and member tax policy would also be inducted in the organization.

Aziz said that there would be merit-based new appointments in the CBR and that this job would be done on the recommendations of its chairman of the organization.

The cost of the reform programme in the CBR would be borne by the World Bank. “We have been assured by vice president of the Bank Ms. Mieko Nishimizu that considerable funds will be offered as part of the technical assistance as well as meeting the financial cost of the reform programme in the CBR,” he added.

“Every thing in the CBR is being re-designed,” the finance minister said adding that change in the CBR could be painful which otherwise aimed at increasing revenues and removing corruption.

Responding to a question, the chairman, CBR, Riaz Malik said that universal assessment scheme would be encouraged and that the real purpose was to make the whole system “faceless” through information technology. “We are working in such a manner that there is no interaction between the taxpayer and tax collector, and every thing is done through modern system,” he said.

He said that change in the CBR was being contemplating with the help of its 30,000 employees.

“Status quo will be broken,” he assured. He said that during the next three-year period the whole CBR will be completely revamped in order to have a friendly organization.

Mr Malik said that next six months were very crucial during which certain new tax system had to be laid down.

To a question, he said that private experts would be inducted in the CBR and would be given handsome packages. “We in the CBR would not mind if someone is hired from outside and is given more salary than us,” he said adding that skill gap has to be met to make the organization efficient and a modern one.