The first convocation culminating in granting of MBA (Tax Management) degrees to officers of Central Board of Revenue is a milestone in the history of our tax administration.
The knowledge gained at the most prestigious institute of the country equips the tax administrators to cope with the modern day challenges of tax administration. The fact that tax administration is a complex job, hardly needs any emphasis. It requires not only good command over accountancy but also legal acumen to interpret the statutory provisions. The tax administrator should have good command over modern business practices for meaningful application of the knowledge gained in the classroom. The modern day tax administration which is focused on voluntary compliance, is much different than the age old method of compliance through enforcement measures.
It is now universally recognised that howsoever efficient a tax administration may be, forced compliance cannot by itself lead to achievement of optimum results. Collection of taxes through voluntary compliance means influencing human behaviour which requires exceptionally modern techniques. The taxpayer perceives return of taxes paid not to be commensurate with his contribution. Therefore, the tax collector has to build up the level of confidence and an environment under which taxes are collected in a taxpayer friendly environment. In the words of Albert Baptiste Colbert, 1665 "The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest possible amount of feathers with the smallest possible amount of hissing".
CBR, Alhamdolillah has already established the direction in which voluntary compliance has shown tremendous results and there has been a great boost to resource mobilisation efforts. It is hoped and prayed that the addition of these young graduates of IBA, will add fresh breeze to the environment created for smooth efforts aimed at optimum resource mobilization for the needs of motherland. I wish and pray for the success of these young officers as their successful completion of training turns our dreams into reality, which is corner stone of our reform process.