FBR likely to get fourth chairman in a month

Sources told The Express Tribune that the government was considering saying adieu to Mumtaz Haider Rizvi who had been given the additional charge on last Monday.

Sources told The Express Tribune that the government was considering saying adieu to Mumtaz Haider Rizvi who had been given the additional charge on last Monday. They added that the next chairman could be someone close to President Asif Ali Zardari and the man was already serving as the head of an important authority.

If the government does decide to replace Rizvi, he will be the sixth outgoing chairman of the FBR during the current government’s four-year stint, and the third outgoing chairman in the last one month.

After Salman Siddique retired on January 20 the government  appointed Mahmood Alam as chairman FBR. On February 13 Alam was appointed as Secreteray Federal tax Ombudsman and replaced by Mumtaz Haider Rizvi. Earlier, Abdullah Yousuf, Ahmad Waqar and Sohail Ahmad had served as chairmen FBR during this government’s tenure.

However, no one is willing to deny or confirm this. From Chairman FBR Mumtaz Haider Rizvi to Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, no one has responded to efforts to get a comment on this. They refused to meet the scribe at their offices and did not respond on the phone. The FBR chairman did have a meeting with the Finance adviser on a range of issue including the tax target.

However, sources close to Rizvi said that certain quarters have been lobbying to get him replaced and the decision may be taken before the end of this month.

There are unconfirmed reports that the government might appoint Arshad Ali Hakeem as chairman FBR who is currently serving as chairman National Database and Registration Authority. Hakeem is said to be close to President Zardari. However, if appointed, he may face tough resistance from within the FBR as the tax officials are reportedly not willing to accept anyone from outside the revenue services. A couple of officials of influential District Management Group have also been lobbying since superannuation of Salman Siddique.

The reason for the possible replacement of the chairman is not clear. However, an official of the FBR said that Rizvi made some changes and reshuffled some officials on key posts and apparently this has earned him the ire of higher authorities.

The anticipated change at the top level certainly cannot help in achieving the already ambitious tax target of Rs1.95 trillion. So far the government is not too far off the pace, having collected Rs980 billion in the first seven months of the current fiscal year. But too many changes at the helm, when the government tax machinery should be strategising for the home stretch is not a good sign.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 22^nd, 2012.