REFORM of the FBR has always been easier to promise than to deliver. Since the late 1990s, governments have tried restructuring, automation, and compliance drives. However, the institution has resisted every change that threatens the entrenched interests within. The basic weaknesses remain a narrow tax base, widespread evasion, and an administration whose discretionary powers invite corruption. Greater transparency, independent oversight, and reduced contact with taxpayers all threaten arrangements from which officials benefit. That helps explain why change keeps meeting opposition from within the organisation. The recent pen-down strike call by Inland Revenue officers against the reforms showed that this was no ordinary bureaucratic........

© Dawn