THE government has recently appointed a DMG officer as chairman of the Federal Bureau of Revenue. Over the years it has been the practice that the revenue collection agency is led by a DMG officer.

For the sake of comparison, I checked the record of the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS), an equivalent of the FBR in America. To my astonishment, the IRS is always headed by an officer who has served his whole life in that department.

Soon my astonishment abated, as I saw the revenue collection performance and working of the IRS.

I asked my economics professor why the FBR chairman is not appointed from the tax department. He said: “In fact, the government does not need taxes, it wants control over the FBR.” So, who could be better for this purpose? Surely, a product of colonial legacy.

AKBAR KHAN Lahore