The reason why government departments dealing with public dealings generally become a breeding ground for corruption is the direct link between government officials and citizens.  

As a result, the national treasury is deprived of legitimate revenues and government officials continue to fill their pockets with bribes. Like other countries in the world, a modern digital system is being introduced in Pakistan to control this.  The process of eliminating the interference of government officials in the entire tax collection system is ongoing.  The latest development in this regard is the implementation of a new customs clearance system. This system has been implemented in Karachi since December 15 and will be gradually extended to the upper regions of the country.  The FBR says that the new system will reduce clearance time and bring transparency in the examination.  The faceless assessment system of customs is a key component of the FBR’s reform plan, in which direct contact between importers and assessors at ports and border posts will not be possible.  Declarations filed in the Appraisal Collectorate of Karachi will be received by the Central Appraisal Unit.

This system will soon be implemented at other ports and border posts of the country. The work of assessing the financial value will be transferred outside the customs collectorates.  A point scoring system has also been introduced for customs clearing agents, under which the points of the agents will be increased for submitting honest and accurate declarations and their profile will be improved.  The license can also be canceled if the points decrease. According to the Chief Collector Customs Appraisal Karachi, the new system will bring about a paradigm shift in the culture and work of customs.  There will be a clear reduction in meetings and contacts between importers, taxpayers and tax officers. Corruption will be eliminated and revenue collection will increase. Chief Collector Customs Appraisal Karachi told the media that under the faceless appraisal system, all goods declarations submitted after midnight on December 14 will be transferred to the Central Appraisal Unit set up at the South Asia Port Terminal and after the success of this pilot project started in Karachi, it will be implemented throughout the country.  After the implementation of this system, traders and industrialists will not have to go around the customs house.

Faceless appraisal is part of the FBR’s customs reforms and the aim of its implementation is to provide trade facilitation in a more convenient, easy and transparent manner.  The Chief Collector said that under the ongoing reforms in customs, the appraisal function of the customs collectors will be transformed into a corporate environment, assistant and deputy collectors will also be deployed here for review and importers will get all possible facilities.  The ongoing efforts to cleanse various sectors of the government machinery of corruption and bring their performance to standard levels are the inevitable need of the hour. The culture of inefficiency and corruption in government departments, which has been flourishing in this country for decades, will make it impossible for our national security to survive if it is not eradicated.  These efforts should be further intensified. Corruption is also rampant in the police and lower-level judiciary, immediate and effective reforms should be implemented here too, while measures should be taken to block all possibilities of creating loopholes in the new customs system that will not allow any attempt by dishonest elements to succeed. As a matter of fact, degitization of tax system is need of the hour. Few months back, the federal government decided to form a task force for comprehensive digitization of FBR which is aimed bringing the tax system towards transparency and also to bring into the tax network those who are lagging behind and the individuals who are fully or partially paying the taxes.

The establishment of a ten-member task force few months back has also been working  commedable. Its scope can be explained in simple words to coordinate data with provinces, revenue agencies, ministries and government departments. To widen the tax base, National Identity Card should be audited by making it the only primary identity and supply chain details including wholesale dealers, distributors and middlemen should be automated.  This task force is part of the aforementioned reform process.  The difficulties that the country's economy is currently facing, demand that the performance of revenue collection agencies should be improved and made transparent.  In this chapter, although FBR has been successful in achieving the desired target, the current 9% tax rate has to be increased to 13.5% in three years by 1.5% per annum under the IMF conditions.  To achieve this goal, the government not only has to take all-round measures, but also to implement them quickly. It should be expected that as a result of the government's actions, the desired revenue targets can be met and it will be possible to stabilize the country's economy. It may be mentioned here that this time, the IMF was not ready to accept the government's promises, but wanted all its demands and reforms to be legalized in the budget, which the government fulfilled, for which an emergency session of the National Assembly was also called, in which the Government Enterprises (SOEs) Legislation regarding change of board of directors was enacted in which the federal cabinet can remove the board of directors of power transmission companies Discos for unsatisfactory performance.  

According to the IMF's new long-term program, Pakistan's current tax rate of 9 percent of GDP is to be increased from 1.5 percent per annum to 13.5 percent in 3 years for agriculture, exports, retail and real estate sectors. Normal tax has been introduced in the system which has been announced in the budget.  To increase the rate of direct taxes by reducing the rate of these direct taxes in Pakistan. Under the 18th amendment to establish the balance of expenditure (NFP) between the federal and provincial governments, Provinces have to take serious steps to collect sales tax on their services and income tax on agriculture.  In this regard, the IMF is in direct contact with the provincial governments and one is happy that all four provincial governments have approved to bring the agriculture sector under the income tax system, for which legislation is being drafted.  The IMF has called for an end to tax and customs duty exemptions in Special Economic Zones (SEZs), which make local industries uncompetitive, while also opposing subsidies, support prizes and tax incentives in the agricultural sector.  In the agreement, the IMF has also called for good governance, transparency and serious measures against corruption and removing all restrictions on imports, including pension reforms.