24 July 2004	Saturday	06 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425

ISLAMABAD, July 23: The Senate Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs and Statistics has emphasized the need for launching a campaign to facilitate and educate the tax payers with a view to developing tax culture in the country.

According to the press release issued by Senate Secretariat on Friday, there was a general consensus on transforming the Central Board of Revenue (CBR) into a progressive, effective and credible organization for optimizing revenue collection by providing quality service and promoting compliance with tax laws.

The members of the committee were of the view that simplification of law would greatly minimize the difficulties of the tax payers and that frequent changes in procedural laws multiplied tax payers' difficulties. The committee underlined the need to ensure issuance of minimum Statutory Regulatory Orders.

CBR chairman Abdullah Yousaf, while giving a briefing on the working of the board's revenue division, said the CBR was determined to enhance the capability of tax system to collect due taxes through application of modern techniques.

He said the objective of reforms in the CBR was to create an enabling environment aimed at accelerating the process of growth in the country. Mr Yousaf informed the committee that reforms had been introduced in the income tax sector, and that the Universal Self- Assessment Scheme introduced last year proved to be a useful scheme.

A pilot project for customer administration reform was also introduced last year, he added. He said five more Medium Taxpayer Units would start working soon at Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Quetta and Karachi. He expressed the hope that the reforms and changes would help introduce tax culture in the country.

A delegation of Car Dealers Federation, Lahore, was allowed by the committee to present its views and complaints in connection with the issuance of some Custom General Orders issued by the CBR after the announcement of the federal budget.

The committee decided to constitute a sub-committee, headed by Senator Ahmed Ali, to look into the complaints of the Car Dealers Federation and sort out the issue in consultation with the revenue division at the earliest.