It is known to all that majority of legislators are declaring meagre income as compared to their standard of living, yet the FBR is not willing to probe and impose taxes. This marriage of convenience, rather unholy alliance, must end if we have to end the culture of cheat and deceit in society and collect taxes from all, wherever due The continuous allegations of financial mismanagement, figure funding and frauds by Muhammad Ishaq Dar, Federal Finance Minister, facing trial after indictment in Accountability Court, have not moved him to tender resignation despite unanimous demand from all the Opposition parties. This is truly a sad and bizarre situation — no other country would have allowed a person to look after finance, revenue and affairs of State Bank and Privatisation Commission with a criminal trial going on. In a recent report published in the media, Muhammad Zubair, presently Governor Sindh and ex-colleague of Ishaq Dar in Cabinet as Chairman Privatisation Commission, while talking to journalists on September 27, 2017, alleged that ousted Prime Minister was cheated by his financial wizard. Mr Zubair reportedly said: “Dar misled Nawaz Sharif, presenting to him a rosier picture of the economy. Dar told Nawaz Sharif that everything is alright in the economy. I interrupted him [Dar] and said no, everything is not all right. Businessmen are facing hardships due to long pending tax refunds”. During the last four years, many statistical discrepancies were reported in budget documents by experts — these were in fact undesirable acts of window dressing through fudging of figures to show a rosy picture of the economy The episode of blocking refunds since 2013 when Dar assumed the portfolio of Finance Minister was narrated in great detail in a report prepared by this author, as Chairman of Committee constituted by Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) on the complaint of Pakistan Apparel Forum. The report held Finance Minister directly responsible for withholding bona fide refunds of exporters and others to show higher collection figures to International Monetary Fund (IMF) and impress others of his “extraordinary performance: of achieving over 20 percent growth in tax revenues. On publication of this report at FTO’s website, Ishaq Dar became furious. He ordered FTO to remove it immediately from website and instructed Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to dissociate itself from the report, which it earlier signed!! The details of this painful saga can be read at https://tribune.com.pk/story/1136471/blocked-tax-refunds-fto-comes-pressure-removes-report-website/ The culture of figure fudging in fiscal matters and cheating in financial affairs has been promoted not only during the three governments of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) but also under Zardari and Musharraf rules. Shaukat Aziz, first as finance minister and then prime minister of Musharraf, admitted this fact as narrated by economist, Dr Pervez Tahir in his op-ed of July 28, 2011, A history of figure fudging, as under: “Fudging began in late 1999… when the IMF pointed towards discrepancies in the fiscal accounts. The coup-makers, who had just seized power, were quick to blame it on the ousted government… . in particular on… Ishaq Dar… The newly-imported finance minister, Shaukat Aziz, was too eager to pay the penalty to the IMF and bill himself as the country’s maiden Mr Clean”. Shaukat Aziz, as ‘Mr. Clean’, according to Dr Pervez, played havoc with figures to prove his dismal performance as the ‘greatest feat’ of Pakistan’s economic history. Dr Pervez commented that Shaukat Aziz specifically targeted the Federal Bureau of Statistics and manipulated figures of poverty, growth, prices and employment. Instead of appointing full-time secretaries of statistics division, Shaukat Aziz assigned the work to additional secretaries in-charge “who had no shame in acting as director-general of the FBS, a junior position”, wrote Dr Pervez. Daniyal Aziz, presently Minister for Privatization, once blue-eyed boy of Musharraf, in a TV talk show in which Ishaq Dar also participated accused him of tampering with figures that led to a “fine of Rs 9 billion to Pakistan”. During the Zardari era, Chairman FBR, in a hurriedly called Press conference during the late hours of June 30, 2011, announced that the revenue target was surpassed “by a comfortable margin of over Rs two billion and receipts are still flowing in”. Later, he admitted the fact of figure fudging before the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs as then Governor State Bank refused to become part of the FBR’s fraud (of taking cheques from some banks and maneuvering clearance before June 30, 2011). During the last four years of present governments, many statistical discrepancies were reported in budget documents by the experts — these were in fact undesirable acts of window dressing through fudging of figures to show a rosy picture of economy. The claim by Ishaq Dar (indicted Finance Minister) that FBR met, rather exceeded, the targets for the fiscal year 2014-15 and 2015-16 were proved wrong. A report (Non-tax revenue: Rs 195 billion included in taxes to claim lofty collection, Business Recorder, July 3, 2016) revealed that Rs 195 billion collection on account of non-tax revenue (Gas Infrastructure Development Cess and Natural Gas Development Surcharge) was shown as ‘other taxes’ to claim ‘higher tax collection’. These were part of non-tax revenue till 2013-14. In 2014-15, FBR failed to meet the third revised target. The original target of Rs 2810 billion was first reduced to Rs 2,691 billion and then to Rs 2,605 billion. On shortfall of over Rs 220 billion vis-à-vis original target, FBR stalwarts received kudos from Ishaq Dar, besides bonuses! On November 26, 2015, Ishaq Dar confessed before the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Privatisation that FBR withheld refunds of Rs 200 billion. For 2016-17, FBR missed even the revised target of Rs 3521 billion by a margin of over Rs 200 — original goal was Rs 3621 billion. As in past years, the collection figures of 2016-17 include blocked refunds of billions of rupees and advances taken from many large taxpayers. This aspect, as suggested earlier in these columns, needs a thorough probe by an independent commission. Public Accounts Committee in the past, even after admission of figure fudging by FBR bosses never punished them. Strangely, but expectedly, till today nobody has raised this issue in the National assembly or Senate. Since elected members favour FBR bosses, they also protect them from probe and audits. The cases of many members of Parliament selected for audit for tax year 2016 have been hushed up as no proper inquiry has been conducted. It is known to all that majority of legislators are declaring meagre income as compared to their standard of living yet FBR is not willing to probe and impose tax. This marriage of convenience, rather unholy alliance, must end if we have to end the culture of cheat and deceit in society and collect taxes from all, wherever due. The writer is Advocate Supreme Court and Adjunct Faculty at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). Email: ikram@huzaimaikram.com; Twitter: @drikramulhaq Published in Daily Times, October 1st 2017.