The folly of development policy thinkers!
Most Pakistani economists following the lead of the BWI have been singing in a chorus asking for increased taxation. This piece written by 2 lawyers outlines how the many tax policy and administration initiatives that have been adopted at the behest of the BWIs and other wise in a bid to increase the tax to GDP ratio, have been poorly implemented or vitiated by the Federal Bureau of Revenue. This reinforces the point that I have been making consistently on this blog: without governance reform which has a strong component of civil service reform, a lot of the so called “dream policies” of the BWI are of no value other than to keep their consultants occupied and voluminous reports to be given to the very people who are not interested in change. Huzaim and Ikram Ul Haq a husband and wife team specialized in tax law make a very good case in this direction. From Huzaima Bukhari and Dr. Ikramul Haq the News Sunday Feb 14 2010 “The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is in for criticism