Rawalpindi Islamabad Tax Bar Association (RITBA) on Saturday said a new and equitable tax system is imperative for a successful Naya Pakistan. A balanced and progressive taxation system is needed to promote the tax culture, reduce mistrust between the taxpayers and collectors, and reduce the widening divide between rich and poor, it said. We will not only fully cooperate with the new government but also give the implementable recommendation to address wider disparities of wealth between rich and poor, said Syed Tauqeer Bukhari, President of RITBA. We welcome the commitment of the new government to provide economic justice to the masses as people have pinned high hopes on the economic managers of PTI, he added. Syed Tauqeer Bukhari said that the current tax system has failed to deliver which must be replaced with a new system or fundamental changes should be introduced in the existing system which opposes progress. The current tax system is tilted in favour of rich, it is in conflict with ground realities, and it is pushing people into abject poverty which can become a national security issue, he observed. The dependence of the system on indirect taxation has reached almost ninety percent making life difficult for the poor which must be reversed, he observed. The President of RITBA said that taxation system should not be focused on promoting interests of nobility. It should not divert resources to moneyed class on the cost of poor, rather it must ensure the welfare of the ordinary people. He said that foreign experts must be kept out of the reform process as they have only helped to make taxation system more complicated and cumbersome pushing prospective taxpayers away. Lauding the vow of PM Imran Khan for ruthless accountability, RITBA hoped that the new government will take concrete steps for the welfare of the masses discounting the practice of tall claims and doing nothing as practiced by the many past governments. Published in Daily Times, August 19th 2018.