Experts suggest formation of fiscal/tax policy board

Tax experts have suggested new government to constitute a Fiscal/Tax Policy Board for making a viable tax policy for the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and restrict the functioning of the FBR to tax administration and revenue collection. A top tax expert told Business Recorder here on Monday that the new government is required to setup a Fiscal or Tax Policy Board for separating FBR's functions of tax policy from tax administration. Fiscal/Tax Policy Board should be headed by Finance Minister or Prime Minister and its members/experts should be from government and private sectors including Secretary Finance and Chairman FBR.
In most of the tax administrations, fiscal policy is not drafted by the tax authorities, they said. Fiscal/Tax Policy Board should have a separate setup including its office/building, officials and members. It would work entirely independently with no interference of the FBR.
The ultimate objective of the Fiscal/Tax Policy Board would be to ensure working of the FBR for only tax administration and not the tax policy formulation.
When we talk about reforms in the tax administration, tax expert said that the only way to improve the working of the tax machinery is to separate the functions of tax policy from tax administration. When FBR make tax policy, tax authorities always have objective of revenue generation and increasing revenue collection. There is a conflict of interest while drafting tax policy by the FBR. The tax policy should be framed by an independent Fiscal/Tax Policy Board for the FBR and it should be the duty of the FBR to implement the said policy.
The Fiscal/Tax Policy Board should chalk out the tax policy and FBR should execute the said policy in the field formations, sources said.
If the government would not separate fiscal policy from the tax administration, the new government cannot achieve the desired objectives of the reforms in the tax administration, they added.