August 06, 2006	Sunday	Rajab 10, 1427

ISLAMABAD, Aug 5: Chairman Central Board of Revenue (CBR) Abdullah Yousuf said on Saturday the revenue department was striving hard to change the whole perception of the tax collecting departments from an autocratic institution of the past to a service-oriented organisation of the future.

"We want that a corporate kind of logo and colour scheme that has a welcoming and facilitative impression should be shown to the public in all our correspondence, letter heads, name plates, board's advertisements etc. so that the people have a feel of the change that is taking place as a result of reforms", he said in a presentation on the performance and reforms of CBR to the prime minister here on Saturday.

Abdulah Yousuf said that the need for reforms was being felt since long, as years of confrontational attitude of tax collectors and taxpayers had distorted the whole taxation system.

He added that missing revenue targets, heavy reliance on indirect taxes, protectionism through high tariffs, wide-ranging exemptions, complexity of tax laws and lack of transparency were only a few of the problems.

Yousuf said that with this bleak backdrop came the Shahid Hussain report in May 2001, which discussed in detail the problems of the system and the difficulties faced by all the stakeholders.

He added that in August, 2001, IMF presented a report and in November 2001, CBR presented its own report to the president, which was approved in Dec 2001.

The chairman CBR said that the establishment of LTU at Karachi and Lahore and six medium taxpayers units in major cities where a home-grown computerised tax management system has been implemented.

He added that major emphasis was on the implementation of the universal self assessment scheme (USAS) in Income Tax and Federal Excise and its further streamlining in Sales Tax. —APP