Govt taking steps to reduce ‘human intervention’ in tax collection: FinMin
smartcybers786@gmail.com 
Minister for Finance and Revenue Muhammad Aurangzeb addresses business community at Peshawar Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, February 26, 2025. — Screengrab via YouTube/Geo News
#Govt #steps #reduce #human #intervention #tax #collection #FinMin
PESHAWAR: The Finance Minister and Taxes Mohammad Aurangzeb reiterated the government’s plan to reform the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Wednesday that the government was taking steps to reduce humanitarian interference in collecting taxes.
Addressing the business community in Peshawar, Finance Czar said, “When human intervention decreases, the leakage will decrease – which is a light word to say corruption.”
“A structural move we have taken is that the tax policy has been removed from the FBR and kept in the finance ministry,” he added.
To meet the terms of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the government separated the tax policy from the tax collector in February and informed the establishment of the Tax Policy Office (TPO) headed by the Finance Minister. What
The government agreed to the FBR policy wing with the IMF and kept it in the finance ministry. However, the process will take a few months, so the policy wing in the Ministry of Finance may be operational from the next fiscal year 2025-26.
According to the notification, the tax policy office will support the analysis of tax policies and suggestions through the country’s international tax contracts and responsibilities, along with data modeling, tax and economic predictions.
The tax policy office will directly report to the Finance Minister. In the office approved by the Federal Cabinet, the staff will be launched with the approval of the Establishment Division and the Finance Division in accordance with the terms and conditions set by the government.
Addressing the participants at the Peshawar Chamber of Commerce today, the Finance Minister said that the country’s economy is moving towards stability, saying that the country is producing positive results through the government’s economic measures.
In addition, he said, the government is taking input from the business community for the next budget, and is vowing to continue supporting all sectors in all provinces.
Regarding state spending, Aurangzeb said the government intends to close more departments as part of the IMF -powered “rights” exercise. He added, “Efforts are being made to reduce state spending … We are closing more departments and affiliated departments.”
The federal government has set up a rights -making program by eliminating various ministries and their affiliated departments to reduce costs and improve government performance.
In January, Aurangzeb pledged to give rights to 42 ministries and their 400 affiliated departments by June 30 this fiscal, adding that the rights committee would reduce 80 institutions by half.
He said, “60 % of empty regular posts – which have not been in the payroll – those who are standing at 150,000 have been eliminated or announced as a dying post, from which a real Financial has an impact. “
Recently, the federal government abolished the Aviation Ministry and merged it into the Ministry of Defense. Through this merger, the government will monitor Rs 145 million annually.
Finanman met with KPK Finance Advisor
In addition, the Finance Minister met with Finance Advisor for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in Peshawar. The meeting was also attended by Minister of State for Finance Ali Pervez Malik, KP Minister for Excise Minister Khaliq and Rehman, and KP Chief Secretary Shahab Ali Shah.
On this occasion, Aurangzeb congratulated the KP government on implementing the national financial agreement and agricultural income tax.
He assured the provincial government to review its concerns at the National Finance Commission (NFC) award, saying that they wanted to work with all the provinces.
Meanwhile, Aslam has claimed that the Center has shut down funds for the integrated districts under the Excelized Implementation Program (AIP) and the Annual Development Program (ADP). He added, “The integrated districts were getting Rs 66 billion in the current budget, while the costs are close to Rs 104 billion.”
The Finance Advisor called for interim arrangements from the NFC Award to remove the expenses of the integrated districts. He has also asked Aurangzeb to set matters related to the next budget already.
In addition, he asked that the provinces should be trusted in advance of taxation, salaries and pensions.
