Reforming tax appellate system
Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul HaqThe existing tax appellate system—hopelessly redundant, painfully unproductive and marred with inefficiency and inordinate delays—needs complete restructuring so that fiscal disputes between the State and taxpayers get settled within a year at the latest. The…
Taxes, prosperity & welfare
Huzaima Bukhari & Ikramul HaqTaxation is a lot like sheep shearing. As long as you shear a sheep, it will continue to produce a new crop of wool but you can skin the animal only once. AnonymousWould it not be…
Civil Servants
Recruitment & training—IIHuzaima Bukhari“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn”―Benjamin Franklin,Generally, corporate bodies, banking institutions, business houses and private sector enterprises seek the right man for the right job. In most…
Civil servants
Recruitment & training—IHuzaima Bukhari“It’s not finding yourself that’s hard; it’s facing yourself that is”―Alexander Den Heijer,If today, fingers are being raised against the civil servants of Pakistan, it calls for some serious brainstorming, deliberations and considering of revamping the entire…
Wither tax reforms?
Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul HaqDoes the government of Pakistan Tahreek-i-Insaf (PTI) still desire to bring about fundamental tax reforms that were promised in its ‘First 100-Day Agenda’? Many say it is no more possible as after entering into the…
Plight of the rural poor
Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul HaqA report by the World Bank, State of Water Supply, Sanitation and Poverty in Pakistan, released on November 1, 2018, was generally ignored in Pakistan. It was not debated seriously in official quarters. This report…
Simplify tax laws
Dr. Ikramul HaqIn 2001, the duo of General Pervez Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz decided to promulgate a new income tax law on the dictates of International Monetary Fund (IMF). The move was opposed by many on the plea that the…
Governance at its best! (Part III)
Huzaima Bukhari“All the rights secured to the citizens under the Constitution are worth nothing, and a mere bubble, except guaranteed to them by an independent and virtuous Judiciary.”—Andrew Jackson 7th US president (1829-37). In his letter written to the newly…
Governance at its best! (Part II)
Huzaima Bukhari“It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their own selfish purposes.”—Andrew Jackson (1829-37) 7th US president. In his letter written to the newly appointed Governor to Egypt, Maalik…