The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) has proposed that rewards and remuneration's should not be restricted only to tax officials directly engaged with detection of evasion and concealment, these should benefit all staff who demonstrate high standards of work ethics.
In his report on integrity management, CBR Member Human Resource Management (HRM), Muhammad Talha, has proposed certain measures for proper administration of the rewards. It highlighted that there are more chances of corruption in cases where staff is working for a longer period of time on the same position.
According to the report, the reward system needs that the benefits should be shared widely among all staff who demonstrate appropriate ethical standards and encourage in the development and maintenance of high standards of work performance rather than only recognising a small number of those officials who work in a particular area where seizures and prosecutions are commonplace.
A number of weak areas need to be addressed for fair distribution of rewards among the tax officials. Presently, the rewards system and its fair administration scored very low, indicating the need for its fair administration.
It suggested that the remuneration level for tax officials is not comparable to similar public/private sector positions and does not take into contribution the opportunity presented by tax officials work to supplement income through illegal commissions.
The report has also pointed out that CBR should inform the government conditions of service, and adequate remuneration plays an important role in maintaining high standard of integrity.
The staff of tax agency facing serious debt problem may be more vulnerable to corruption. Staff does not receive sufficient remuneration to maintain the reasonable standard of living.
According to the report, employees who remain posted for a longer period of time on a similar position are more vulnerable to corruption. Removing opportunities for such staff to hold attractive for longer period is an important integrity measure. Mechanisms are needed to ensure control, accountability and supervision of staff working on attractive positions, it added.
Meanwhile, it has been observed that the staff of customs and sales tax in CBR Headquarters are working on the same position for the last many years and nobody has ever transferred them from their specific positions. In certain cases, transfer and postings of staff within the same floor has been witnessed, sources said.