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Japan winds up training project for CBR staff

ASIF FAROOQI

ISLAMABAD: Disinterest of the Pakistani authorities has deprived the local tax collectors of an opportunity of receiving training in Japan and to adopt latest technology in the fields of tax collection.

The Japanese government has closed a training programme offered to the Central Board of Revenue a year ago after finding the CBR authorities "disinterested", Japanese diplomats said.

The programme was offered to the Nawaz government when it announced to undertake restructuring of the Revenue Board. It included sophisticated training of the CBR personnel in Tokyo, provision of latest equipment and technological support, if required, to the tax collectors for enhancing their performance.

The Member Sales Tax, SM Kazmi, was selected to be the first CBR official to proceed to Tokyo for the basic training which was supposed to be followed by the training of more than 20 CBR officials in Tokyo. But days before his departure, Kazmi was sacked and so was the training programme.

"We waited for more than six months to hear something positive from the CBR on nomination of officer for Tokyo programme but nobody showed up so it had to be closed down" head of the economic section in the Japanese embassy Nakagawa told Business Recorder while confirming that the government of Pakistan, and more precisely, present CBR management was responsible for losing the opportunity.

The Japanese government, responding positively to the CBR request, had agreed to support the training program for its tax officials under its Overseas Development Agency (ODA) funding which also included transfer of relevant technology and equipment to the recipient country.

Pakistani tax collectors have been under severe criticism for the last many years as the country was continuously failing to meet its annual tax collection targets. Nawaz Sharif government had twice replaced the top brass of the CBR in two years to get the desired results from the tax machinery but all in vain. General Musharraf regime has also decided to induct dozens of army officer in the board to enhance the output.

But experts agree that what Pakistani tax collectors at the every level lack is the proper training and know-how of the latest technique being applied all over the world for tax collection.

"This was an ideal opportunity for the government to train its tax collectors in a proper and most advanced manner," Nakagawa said.

He added that the Japanese government could still look into a renewed request by the government for reactivation of the training programme, "if it shows the required enthusiasm and interest," he added.