Sajjad Zohir

Article published in The New age

Tax collection policy is distinguished from tax policies and the paper argues why the focus should primarily be on agencies than individuals when it comes to administering efficient direct tax.

There has been much clamour about widening the tax net and increasing government revenue from direct taxes. It is commonly acknowledged that current practices in tax collections are flawed with presence of tax evasion by agencies as well as by individuals, often in collusion with the tax collecting authority. Yet, efforts during the past two decades of parliamentary governments had largely been on expanding the net of individual taxpayers through making taxpayer identification number (and/or paying advance income tax) mandatory during annual car registration, opening of bank accounts, and during registration of land transfers. Furthermore, incentives have reportedly been introduced to the very tax collectors who are allegedly part of the ‘problem’.