ISLAMABAD: In a bid to maintain secrecy of policy matters related to the upcoming budget for the fiscal year 2015-16, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has appointed officers as coordinators and deputy coordinators to deal with different matters pertaining to taxation, both the inside and outside the department.
The FBR has also started preparations to meet the challenge of preparing the upcoming federal budget for the fiscal year 2015-16.
“To review the updated state of preparations and measures, Administration Member Shahid Hussain Jatoi convened a meeting of the officers appointed as coordinators and deputy coordinators to deal with different relative matters, both the inside and outside the department, on Tuesday,” a well-placed source at the FBR informed this scribe.
Special Assistant to the FBR Chairman, Dr Iqbal Muhammad Khan, Amjad Zubair Tiwana, Abdul Hameed Memon, Arslan Sabuktgein, Rehmatullah Bistro and few other officers have been appointed as coordinators and deputy coordinators to deal with the matters of income tax, sales tax, customs and others.
The FBR remains active during the budget preparations and budget debate in parliament, as all the required documents and briefs are prepared in the FBR Headquarters.
In this regard, to weigh the issues of national importance, the FBR Headquarters’ doors are closed for three days to get ready the documents for budget, while over two dozen printing machines are installed in the FBR Headquarters for getting every page of all relevant documents printed in the shortest possible time as well as in bulk quantity.
Moreover, the FBR management is also planning to put a ban on entry of visitors for timely completion of the budget proposals and leakage of any information regarding the policy matters.
On the issue of secrecy, the FBR is of the view that leakage of any policy matter may damage the essence of the said policy matter; therefore, the FBR tries to maintain secrecy through tightest possible measures.
The FBR is of the stance that media reports about the leakage of any budget and policy are often based on self assumptions and any reporter showing any document on TV channels are often self-created on the basis of the previous budget.
