ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government’s favorite for tax reforms, Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Shabbar Zaidi is expected to leave for health reasons with constantly growing revenue shortfalls against the target for the second year in a row.
Mr. Zaidi, after a two-week leave for health reasons, resumed his office on 21 Jan. In his absence, the director administration, an Inland Revenue Service BS-22 officer had taken over as FBR’s acting chairman.
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There are rumors circulating in Islamabad that the chairman of the FBR had told PM advisor on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and other top government officials on Thursday that he was going on a long leave, Zaidi’s assistant informed the media reports that Zaidi had skipped most of his meetings this week as he did not feel well.
FBR sources said, that Mr Zaidi met with Adviser Dr Hafeez Shaikh and senior finance division officials before leaving, and informed them that he was taking leave for an indefinite time.
As per sources, Shabbar Zaidi has not been going to the office for the last few days and has not taken up any issues over the last 10 days after taking office. There is confusion within the FBR as to whether he will proceed as FBR chairman and, if not, who will replace him.
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Following many initiatives and double-digit price inflation, the FBR has skipped a revised revenue collection goal for the first half of the current fiscal year by a wide margin of Rs287 billion against the Rs2.367 trillion target.
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