gazoomartian
Prime Minister (20k+ posts)
Note: This Reform Policy was prepared September 19th, 2010
The Manifesto Of Pakistani Patriots: Tax Reform
( Central Board of Revenue Reform )
Introduction:
Patriots officials have learned that hundreds of billions of rupees are being stolen from the treasury of Pakistan thru corrupt employees at the CBR that results in the country borrowing money for foreign agencies.
Accountants are heavily involved in preparing fraudulent tax return, bribing the tax officials on behalf of their clients who do not understand the impact of tax theft that eventually comes to haunt the entire country, and simply want to save money, fraudsters and tax payers equally.
We have also learned that tax fraud or evasion is very prevalent at all levels, whether at the individual tax payer, importers, exporters, wholesalers, retailers etc. This act of tax theft has deprived the national treasury of money and push Pakistan into economic chaos.
Patriots is determined to put a stop to it and intends to take some drastic measures that may not be very popular at the outset, but in the long run our country will see the benefits and our children will appreciate it.
Following are the steps that we shall adopt for a better and a theft-free tax system in the country. The Assistant Director, reporting to the Director, shall assume full responsibility of making every effort that this Reform, including the elimination of ongoing tax theft and recovery of previously stolen tax due to the corrupt staff and system of the Central Board of Revenue.
CBR Reform New cases
A Step by Step Plan of Reform: Our excellent theft-free tax system
We shall legislate severe sentences for tax payers who still cheat on taxes AFTER this
legislation has been passed by the parliament. Our structure or punishments has been
described in the Penalty Schedule For Tax Fraud below.
02 It should be noted that the penalties mentioned in the Tables are applicable only if its proven in a court of law that there has been a fraud or evasion of taxes. Or, if the tax payer, personal or corporate, admits of the fraud.
03 If the CBR determines or the payer proves that there has indeed be an error in calculating the tax payable amount, then the Penalty Schedule will not be applicable. This will be true for both personal and corporate tax payer.
04 We shall allow only two consecutive occurrences of such oversight, as mentioned in 02 above, and the 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] will automatically be considered a tax cheat or fraud for personal or corporate. We shall levy light penalties as follows for ensuring that the oversight events do not become an abuse.
Percentage is on the total tax payable.
[TABLE="align: center"]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]1[SUP]st[/SUP]
occur[/TD]
[TD]2[SUP]nd[/SUP]
occur[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Personal[/TD]
[TD]10%[/TD]
[TD]20%[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Corporate[/TD]
[TD]15%[/TD]
[TD]30%[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
CBR Reform Legacy cases
Patriots officials have learnt that there is a backlog of unresolved tax evasion cases in the number literally 1000s. According to one estimate, we would need a truck to haul all the paper files, not including softcopies if any, from the CBR to another location, if desired.
We believe that the CBR is currently overstaffed and this situation needs to be addressed. We shall create a section within the CBR, called Legacy Tax Evasion Reconciliation System, LeTERS. The LeTERS will be located close to the Nazims office ensuring that the LeTERS can work under the close supervision of the Nazim. Depending on how overstaffed the CBR is, we will attempt to move 15 staff to the LeTERS.
If it is determined that the CBR can not release people then we shall find other Ministries to borrow from. Hiring of any staff will be only as a last resort. We shall make every effort to staff the LeTERS by downsizing any other departments. All Ministers, or department heads will given a task to determine if they could downsize without compromising the quality of services.
It is NOT our intent to lay off people and create unemployment. However people ordered to be seconded, must accept the transfer or become unemployed.
LeTERS would have a supervisor who would report the Assistant Director. The duties of the Supervisor would be to ensure that day-to-day activities are smooth and people are productive.
Since the Nazim is a Systems Analyst/Programmer himself, it should not be difficult for him to manage this reform.
Reform of the legacy tax evasion cases will be handled in this way:
Automation: We shall automate the paper files of the pending actions against the tax violators.
We shall announce general clemency from prosecution of the violators provided they come forward and admit they had violated tax laws and are willing to pay back the outstanding amount.
We shall offer 20% discount to all those who want to come clean to a maximum of Rs. 2,00,000.
We shall give them 30 day leeway to consult their attorneys, tax advisers etc. if needed, in case they fear that they are not able to pay back.
We shall require them to reveal name of the CBR staff, if any, had received money to stall or overlook their tax violations. However we do not expect them to remember their names, as most of these cases will be very old.
Step by Step Plan of Reform: Our excellent theft-free tax system.
01 We shall acquire a powerful database and a programming language that can handle transactions of 100s of millions of records. The Nazim is an expert in one type of mainframe database and its corresponding programming language.
It would be ideal to beg borrow steal a large computer set up from another ministry if possible. If no avail, we regretfully have to purchase such system.
02 We shall create a database file called LeTERS and some other files as it becomes necessary.
03 We shall populate the file with minimum but absolute essential information off the paper file such as Name, phone number, address, amount owed etc.
04 As we progress we shall order the CBR to begin contacting the violators whose information has been entered into the database so far.
05 We shall closely monitor all activities of the CBR such as attempts made to contact the violators, what should be done to collect money from them, what notices should be sent to them etc.
06 If a violator is truly unable to pay back the amount due, we shall begin collection process as per the current laws of the CBR
.
07 If we find that we have collected indisputable evidence accusing CBR staff of collecting bribe to overlook the tax fraud then we shall forward all pertinent information the CBR and order the to take appropriate legal action against the CBR staff. The punishment for such breach of law would be governed by the existing laws of CBR or as amended if so done.
08 All violators who have been convicted or awarded a installment payback plan, will have their passports marked as Not Allowed to Leave. We shall order airport officials to put names of such violators on the Exit Control List.
09 We shall order all travel agencies not to sell any tickets for travel to outside of Pakistan. Passport offices will also be notified to be aware and not issue any new passport.
10 If a violator wants to travel abroad to earn a living, he will be allowed to leave the country but we shall mark the passport of his/her spouse and all children with Not Allowed to Leave stamp. We shall also notify travel agencies and passport office to inform them of our actions.
11 Once all arrears have been paid, with penalty if any, we shall issue the violator a No Further Interest certificate which he can show to get a new passport, travel tickets, and exit thru the airport.
.
In addition, we shall notify the passport office, airports, and travel agencies that the ban of the violators travel has been lifted and he should be allowed to travel subject to regular existing restrictions prior to issuing a ban. To get a new passport the violator may have to pay the applicable fees to the passport office.
12 We believe this will be a long and arduous reform but Patriots has the courage and wisdom to carry out this reform for the betterment of our motherland. We also recognize that this reform may take longer than three years, our benchmark target.
This concludes the reform of the legacy tax evasion cases.
The Manifesto Of Pakistani Patriots: Tax Reform
( Central Board of Revenue Reform )
Introduction:
Patriots officials have learned that hundreds of billions of rupees are being stolen from the treasury of Pakistan thru corrupt employees at the CBR that results in the country borrowing money for foreign agencies.
Accountants are heavily involved in preparing fraudulent tax return, bribing the tax officials on behalf of their clients who do not understand the impact of tax theft that eventually comes to haunt the entire country, and simply want to save money, fraudsters and tax payers equally.
We have also learned that tax fraud or evasion is very prevalent at all levels, whether at the individual tax payer, importers, exporters, wholesalers, retailers etc. This act of tax theft has deprived the national treasury of money and push Pakistan into economic chaos.
Patriots is determined to put a stop to it and intends to take some drastic measures that may not be very popular at the outset, but in the long run our country will see the benefits and our children will appreciate it.
Following are the steps that we shall adopt for a better and a theft-free tax system in the country. The Assistant Director, reporting to the Director, shall assume full responsibility of making every effort that this Reform, including the elimination of ongoing tax theft and recovery of previously stolen tax due to the corrupt staff and system of the Central Board of Revenue.
CBR Reform New cases
A Step by Step Plan of Reform: Our excellent theft-free tax system
- At the very outset we must pass laws, or enhance the existing ones, to award the good tax
We shall legislate severe sentences for tax payers who still cheat on taxes AFTER this
legislation has been passed by the parliament. Our structure or punishments has been
described in the Penalty Schedule For Tax Fraud below.
02 It should be noted that the penalties mentioned in the Tables are applicable only if its proven in a court of law that there has been a fraud or evasion of taxes. Or, if the tax payer, personal or corporate, admits of the fraud.
03 If the CBR determines or the payer proves that there has indeed be an error in calculating the tax payable amount, then the Penalty Schedule will not be applicable. This will be true for both personal and corporate tax payer.
04 We shall allow only two consecutive occurrences of such oversight, as mentioned in 02 above, and the 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] will automatically be considered a tax cheat or fraud for personal or corporate. We shall levy light penalties as follows for ensuring that the oversight events do not become an abuse.
Percentage is on the total tax payable.
[TABLE="align: center"]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]1[SUP]st[/SUP]
occur[/TD]
[TD]2[SUP]nd[/SUP]
occur[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Personal[/TD]
[TD]10%[/TD]
[TD]20%[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Corporate[/TD]
[TD]15%[/TD]
[TD]30%[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
CBR Reform Legacy cases
Patriots officials have learnt that there is a backlog of unresolved tax evasion cases in the number literally 1000s. According to one estimate, we would need a truck to haul all the paper files, not including softcopies if any, from the CBR to another location, if desired.
We believe that the CBR is currently overstaffed and this situation needs to be addressed. We shall create a section within the CBR, called Legacy Tax Evasion Reconciliation System, LeTERS. The LeTERS will be located close to the Nazims office ensuring that the LeTERS can work under the close supervision of the Nazim. Depending on how overstaffed the CBR is, we will attempt to move 15 staff to the LeTERS.
If it is determined that the CBR can not release people then we shall find other Ministries to borrow from. Hiring of any staff will be only as a last resort. We shall make every effort to staff the LeTERS by downsizing any other departments. All Ministers, or department heads will given a task to determine if they could downsize without compromising the quality of services.
It is NOT our intent to lay off people and create unemployment. However people ordered to be seconded, must accept the transfer or become unemployed.
LeTERS would have a supervisor who would report the Assistant Director. The duties of the Supervisor would be to ensure that day-to-day activities are smooth and people are productive.
Since the Nazim is a Systems Analyst/Programmer himself, it should not be difficult for him to manage this reform.
Reform of the legacy tax evasion cases will be handled in this way:
Automation: We shall automate the paper files of the pending actions against the tax violators.
We shall announce general clemency from prosecution of the violators provided they come forward and admit they had violated tax laws and are willing to pay back the outstanding amount.
We shall offer 20% discount to all those who want to come clean to a maximum of Rs. 2,00,000.
We shall give them 30 day leeway to consult their attorneys, tax advisers etc. if needed, in case they fear that they are not able to pay back.
We shall require them to reveal name of the CBR staff, if any, had received money to stall or overlook their tax violations. However we do not expect them to remember their names, as most of these cases will be very old.
Step by Step Plan of Reform: Our excellent theft-free tax system.
01 We shall acquire a powerful database and a programming language that can handle transactions of 100s of millions of records. The Nazim is an expert in one type of mainframe database and its corresponding programming language.
It would be ideal to beg borrow steal a large computer set up from another ministry if possible. If no avail, we regretfully have to purchase such system.
02 We shall create a database file called LeTERS and some other files as it becomes necessary.
03 We shall populate the file with minimum but absolute essential information off the paper file such as Name, phone number, address, amount owed etc.
04 As we progress we shall order the CBR to begin contacting the violators whose information has been entered into the database so far.
05 We shall closely monitor all activities of the CBR such as attempts made to contact the violators, what should be done to collect money from them, what notices should be sent to them etc.
06 If a violator is truly unable to pay back the amount due, we shall begin collection process as per the current laws of the CBR
.
07 If we find that we have collected indisputable evidence accusing CBR staff of collecting bribe to overlook the tax fraud then we shall forward all pertinent information the CBR and order the to take appropriate legal action against the CBR staff. The punishment for such breach of law would be governed by the existing laws of CBR or as amended if so done.
08 All violators who have been convicted or awarded a installment payback plan, will have their passports marked as Not Allowed to Leave. We shall order airport officials to put names of such violators on the Exit Control List.
09 We shall order all travel agencies not to sell any tickets for travel to outside of Pakistan. Passport offices will also be notified to be aware and not issue any new passport.
10 If a violator wants to travel abroad to earn a living, he will be allowed to leave the country but we shall mark the passport of his/her spouse and all children with Not Allowed to Leave stamp. We shall also notify travel agencies and passport office to inform them of our actions.
11 Once all arrears have been paid, with penalty if any, we shall issue the violator a No Further Interest certificate which he can show to get a new passport, travel tickets, and exit thru the airport.
.
In addition, we shall notify the passport office, airports, and travel agencies that the ban of the violators travel has been lifted and he should be allowed to travel subject to regular existing restrictions prior to issuing a ban. To get a new passport the violator may have to pay the applicable fees to the passport office.
12 We believe this will be a long and arduous reform but Patriots has the courage and wisdom to carry out this reform for the betterment of our motherland. We also recognize that this reform may take longer than three years, our benchmark target.
This concludes the reform of the legacy tax evasion cases.
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