Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq The 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 4-tier appeal system under the tax laws—direct and indirect—consumes so much time for final...Read More

Huzaima Bukhari & Ikramul Haq Taxation 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.   Anonymous Would it not be wonderful to live in a society where there is a general atmosphere of...Read More

Recruitment & training—II Huzaima 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 advertisements related to job vacancies, certain qualifications and experiences are specifically mentioned....Read More

Recruitment & training—I Huzaima 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 institution which serves as the backbone of administration for the country. Just...Read More

Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq Does 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 programme of International Monetary Fund and getting funds in the name of tax reform...Read More

Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq A 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 claimed that the poverty head count rate in rural Pakistan was twice as much...Read More

Dr. Ikramul Haq In 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 enactment of income tax law through a Presidential Ordinance by a military dictator was...Read More

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 appointed Governor to Egypt, Maalik Al-Ashtar, Caliph Hazrat Ali (AS) laid down some marvelous...Read More

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 Al-Ashtar, Caliph Hazrat Ali (AS) wrote valuable words of wisdom for good governance to...Read More

Dr. Ikramul Haq The primary function of a tax system is to raise revenue for the governments at various levels, in the case of Pakistan, federal and provincial, for their public expenditure as well as for local authorities and similar public bodies. Thus, the first goal in development strategy as regards taxation policy is to...Read More