FBR reforms, again?

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s warning against resistance to tax reforms has once again put a spotlight on the efforts to restructure the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). The warning came after a pen-down strike call by the Inland Revenue Service Officers Association (IRSOA) in opposition to the reforms and subsequent punitive action against several officers. Since 2000, successive governments have borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars from the World Bank to restructure tax administration. However, persistent weaknesses in compliance, audit and enforcement raise a fundamental question: why…