LAHORE - FBR Federal Revenue Alliance Union, condemning the role of Finance Division and Establishment Division, has urged the government to set FBR free from clutches of these departments.

When tax department has already been declared as an independent and autonomous institution under the Act 2007, then why Finance Division and Establishment Division impose their decisions on it, asked the FBR Union president Mian Abdul Qayyum.
He said that the FBR can present whole budget of the country if tax department could take decisions independently, setting aside influences of other departments, since it is already contributing over 70 per cent of the federal budget of Pakistan.
He lamented that Board cannot spend even one per cent of its revenue on its own staff while Czechoslovakia spends about three per cent of revenue on its tax department staff.
He said that FBR is one of the few federal departments, which have no housing society for its employees.
“We have no transportation service, no medical complex as Finance Division always creates hurdles. On the other hand, departments like Wapda, which are running constantly in losses, are providing its staff best transportation services along with medical facilities.”
He said that FBR had achieved target of Rs1,952 billion during last fiscal year in spite of Rs300 billion tax evasion by the so-called non-resident companies and revenue leakage of Rs47 billion by the payphone companies.
He said that government has projected revenue target of Rs2,250 billion but if the FBR is set free from Establishment and Finance Divisions it can generate over Rs44 trillions — more than the last federal budget of Rs29.5 trillions, he claimed.
He said that Finance Division has always denied promotions to the income tax inspectors, who had been upgraded recently. He said the government is spending millions on high officials while the lower staff is constantly being ignored who are main instrument of collecting revenue.