Reforms cause income tax officers to strike
By Mubarak Zeb Khan
Dawn Wednesday, 01 Jul, 2009

ISLAMABAD: Defying the government’s move to change the tax reforms plan, income tax officers on Wednesday announced they would go on strike on the grounds that the reforms would hamper the whole system.



The representatives of the Income Tax Officers Association (ITOA) have urged the government to implement the tax administration reform program in its true spirit.



The customs and excise group on the other hand, has opposed the earlier changes in the reform project.



The reform process of the tax administration has entered a crucial phase as both tax groups are trying to use the reforms to further the position of their own department.



An executive member of the association on condition of anonymity told Dawn from Karachi that the income tax officers will wear black shoulder-bands, hoist black flags and treat Thursday as a day of mourning.



‘We will work with all this initial reaction but if the government does listen to our concern then we may go for pen down strike,’ he said, the association will also go to file a petition in the court in this regard.



Under the new setup, the government created two member posts for domestic operations — North and South. A senior member of the custom group has been posted as member operation for South, while an officer from the income tax group for North.



The income tax group in the resolution passed by ITOA decided not to report to the member for domestic operations in the South. ‘We will not work under Member Domestic Operation Ramzan Bhatti because he is the president of the customs association,’ he said, adding Mr Bhatti was one of the main filers of a petition against the income tax group in the Islamabad High Court.



He said that the copy of the resolution has been sent to the chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance and other relevant ministers.



‘We will first create awareness among the political hierarchy and then opt for other measures,’ he said.



Chairman FBR Sohail Ahmad told Dawn that the amendments were finalized in the recent meeting with the World Bank officials. He said the reform process would go as per schedule.



Answering a question he said that he made no distinction between the tax groups. He said the focus of the reform should be to increase the tax to GDP ratio. He said the creation of the Inland Revenue wing was against the establishment rules. ‘FBR has no authority to create a group,’ he said.



According to the resolution of the ITOA faxed to Dawn, which said the officers expressed deep concern, dismay and anguish at the patently illegal office order issued on June 30. ‘These are sheer violation of order No 1(1) Chief (Mgt) 2009, passed in consequence of the Islamabad High Court’s order on May 13, 2009 in Writ Petition No687/2009, which is still pending and the matter is sub-judice,’ the resolution said.



Hence the officers feel the need to report to member direct taxes and not to member domestic operations. The officers of the income tax group feel that the reform agenda ahs been reversed due to undue pressure of the customs and excise group.



‘This pressure is mainly against integration of function of sales tax and income tax as envisaged in TARP,’ it said.