Suchergebnisse

―When groups are adequately stated, everything is stated!‖1 Management of actions and interest groups has historically been sovereign's existentialist imperative. The paper revitalizes philosophical state autonomy debate and then narrows down its focus to capture extractive antics of as erratic a state as Pakistan. A typology of factions – captioned as Elites – operative in extractive realm of Pakistan is developed to round them in theory, identify their properties, and lay bare mechanics of intra-elite and elite-non-elite transactions. The paper seminally develops the rational actor dilemma confronting Pakistani elites and identifies the modes through which the dilemma plausibly resolves itself. The transactional engagement between Pakistan's internal and external rational actors is dissected to theorize that Pakistan essentially is an equilibrium consensus subsistence state thereby opening up vast vistas for future research. The paper concludes with the glum finding that Pakistan in its current essence and manifestation is fundamentally a captive state – beholden to elites of Pakistan. JEL Classification: H1 Keywords: State Autonomy; Elite Capture; Pakistan's Tax System; Pakistani Elites; Elites' Rational Actor Dilemma; Equilibrium Consensus Subsistence State; Captive State

Pakistan tax system reforms carried out during 2001–2010, were overwhelming, expensive, and a failure. The reforms were financially afforded and technically assisted by World Bank. While both Government of Pakistan and World Bank agreed on the failure of tax reforms, each blamed the other for the failure. A consensus, however, does exist as regards the fact that the reform program left the tax system more gridlocked, retrofitted, and incapacitated than before to generate both sufficient and healthy revenues. The paper adopts case study approach to explore into the factors of failure of the reform program. The study is anchored in Large Taxpayers' Unit, Islamabad — a flagship taxing field formation established under the reform project. The data are produced from Large Taxpayers' Unit, Islamabad, to assess its jurisdictional, functional, and operational capacity and explain why its tax collection curve flattens after 2012. The insights so derived at micro-level are made to feed back into macro-canvass of the program and enhance our holistic understanding and see its failure in a different and closer-to-reality light. The analysis is extrapolated to the national level to argue that as soon as political ownership and donor oversight — the key drivers — were omitted from the equation, the resultant resource constrains were enough to frustrate and fail the entire reform program. The conclusions drawn are generalizable to most similarly-circumstanced developing countries and their rigidly underperforming tax systems.Highlights1. The evaluation of a tax reform program being essentially subjective could well be undertaken by adopting case study approach that generates empirics at micro-level, which get fed into the analytics at the macro-level2. In order for the tax reform evaluation to stay comprehensively meaningful, it covers the micro locale being evaluated across its full spectrum i.e. jurisdictional, functional, and operational capacity3. Continued political ownership and donor oversight are key variables of a tax reform program, and their elimination from the equation mid-stream potentially results in reversing and even perverting the entire reform agenda FOR CITATION Ahmed M. A. Pakistan: wither tax reforms — the case of large taxpayers' unit, Islamabad. Journal of Tax Reform, 2018, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 202–222. DOI:10.15826/jtr.2018.4.3.052ARTICLE INFO Received August 30, 2018; accepted December 9, 2018 ; Реформы налоговой системы Пакистана, проведенные в 2001–2010 гг., были масштабными, дорогостоящими и неудачными. Реформы финансово и организационно поддерживались Всемирным банком. Правительство Пакистана и Всемирный банк одинаково оценивают результат налоговых реформ как провал, но ответственность за него каждый возлагает на противоположную сторону. По общему мнению, проведенные реформы привели налоговую систему Пакистана в тупик, сделав ее более модернизированной, но недееспособной для достаточной и разумной мобилизации государственных доходов. В статье на основе анализа конкретных случаев, рассматриваются причины провала реформ. Исследование основано на анализе фактических данных о деятельности подразделения, работающего с крупными налогоплательщиками Исламабада, созданного в рамках налоговой реформы и являющегося лидером в работе с крупными налогоплательщиками Пакистана. Результаты исследования позволяют оценить юрисдикционный, функциональный и оперативный потенциал данного подразделения и объяснить, почему налоговые доходы остановились на уровне 2012 г. Выводы, полученные на микроуровне, позволяют понять ситуацию в целом и реально оценить последствия налоговых реформ. Анализ экстраполирован на национальный уровень, что позволило утверждать, что, как только политическая заинтересованность и контроль со стороны доноров — ключевые движущие силы программы реформ — были исключены из процесса, ограниченности внутренних ресурсов оказалось достаточно, чтобы сорвать и провалить всю программу налоговых реформ. Полученные результаты характерны для большинства развивающихся стран, со схожей экономической ситуацией и отсталыми налоговыми системами.Основные положения1. Изучение конкретных случаев на микроуровне и их анализ на макроуровне позволяют проверить кажущиеся ошибочными субъективные оценки реализации программы налоговых реформ2. Комплексная оценка налоговой реформы на микроуровене должна содержать данные о юрисдикционном, функциональном и оперативном аспектах потенциала налоговых служб3. Политическая заинтересованность властей и контроль со стороны доноров являются ключевыми движущими силами налоговых реформ, их устранение из процесса может привести к прекращению или извращению всей программы реформДЛЯ ЦИТИРОВАНИЯ Ахмед М. А. Провал налоговых реформ в Пакистане: анализ деятельности подразделения по работе с крупными налогоплательщиками Исламабада / Мухаммад Ашфак Ахмед // Journal of Tax Reform. — 2018. — Т. 4, № 3. — С. 202–222. — DOI:10.15826/jtr.2018.4.3.052ИНФОРМАЦИЯ О СТАТЬЕ Дата поступления 30 августа 2018 г.; дата принятия к печати 9 декабря 2018 г.

The governance crisis of Pakistan's public sector is wide,
deep and historically imbedded. There are a host of factors which
contribute at varying degrees towards the extant of governance mess. The
body of scholarship created to analyse the underlying factors of public
sector management mess of Pakistan is not only scant but also deficient
in quality, coverage and construct validity. In the entire
administrative morass of Pakistan, the quagmire of Federal Board of
Revenue (FBR)—house of the state's extractive function—is by far the
most sombre and serious one. The paper picks up FBR as the unit of
analysis and there too, only one variable, that is, appointment of a
non-professional generalist as its Chairman to analyse below par
performance of Pakistan's revenue function—by far the lowest in the
world. It posits that appointment of non-professional Chairman, FBR, is
a compelling exposition of a collusive duopoly arrangement between
elites and generalist cadres of Pakistan civil services—both
symbiotically pursuing their perverse particularistic interests at the
expense of citizenry at large. The paper develops a theoretical
framework within which it attempts to analyse domination of Pakistan's
extractive function over history from various dimensions. It argues
that, since the entire institutional infrastructure of the state has
fallen hostage to elitesgeneralist duopoly paradigm, the control of its
extractive function is only a logical consequence thereof, and that a
non-professional generalist chairman is imposed on the revenue function
only to precisely, and fully control the extractive policy formulation
process as well as the extractive operations on the ground—to the
ultimate advantage of the duopoly. JEL Classification: H1 Keywords:
Public Sector Management, Federal Board of Revenue, Civil Service of
Pakistan, Inland Revenue Service, Chairman, FBR,
Institutionalism

In this paper, the Researcher has endeavored to test the hypothesis that the Indian ballistic missile defense system (BMDS) erodes the sense of mutual vulnerability. It seems that the BMDS provides a false sense of security to India. For this reason it is felt that the Cold Start Doctrine (CSD) can therefore be launched against Pakistan in an attempt to actualize a disarming strike. Consequentially, the BMDS disturbs the India-Pakistan crisis and deterrence stability. Indian policymakers should realize that firstly, the operationalization of the CSD crosses Pakistan's nuclear threshold and it requires Islamabad to unleash strategic and tactical nuclear weapons (TNWs); secondly, the Pak-India crisis and deterrence stability is functional due to the sense of mutual vulnerability; thirdly, the credibility of nuclear deterrence has not been tested and fourthly, the deterrence stability solidified the crisis and strategic stability. The BMDS deployment in South Asia will certainly result first in quantitative and qualitative nuclear proliferation; second, it weakens the NPT and; third, it may break the nuclear taboo based on non-use of nuclear weapons. India needs to understand that Pak-India can survive the long persisting threat of conventional and nuclear war because of the mutual vulnerability of counter value and counterforce targets.

Obesity is an abnormal physical condition where an increased and undesirable fat accumulates in the human body. Obesity is an international phenomenon. In the present study, 12 schools were randomly selected from each district considering the areas i.e. Elite Private Schools in the private sector, Government schools in urban areas and Government schools in rural areas. Interviews were conducted with male students studying in grade 5 to grade 9 in each school. The sample size was 600 students; 300 from Faisalabad district and 300 from Rawalpindi district in Pakistan. A well-structured and pre-tested questionnaire was used for data collection. The calibrated scales were used to attain the heights and weights of the respondents. Obesity of school-going children depends on family types, family size, family history, junk food consumption, mother's education, weekly time spent in walking, and sports facility at school levels. Academic performance, physical health and psychological health of school going children are affected with obesity. Concrete steps and policies could minimize the incidence of obesity in children in Pakistan.

For many years, improving air quality has been great attention of the whole world. It has been recognized that air pollution as a hypothetically hazardous type of environmental pollution and polluted air directly affects the human health. In Asian countries, it has converged less attention of ever growing most alarming and hazardous issue of air pollution. This paper presents a case study of Lahore city of Pakistan for the prediction of Air Quality Index (AQI) using hybrid approach of Neuro Fuzzy (NF) inference system. The ambient air data of Lahore was taken from the Environmental Protection | department (EPD) working under government of the Punjab. For results evaluation, data was recorded at different station in the period from April 2007 to May 2015. The fuzzy rules have been generated according to the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (PAK-EPA) standard of AQI. The NF Inference Model took the air pollutants such as Particulate Matter (PM2.5), Ozone (O3), Carbon Monoxide (CO), Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) and Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) as inputs and predicted the air quality index as good, moderate, or unhealthy air. The results showed that NF based AQI prediction model classifies the AQI proficiently, robustly, and accurately as compared to conventional method.

Main purpose of this paper is to examine the consumer attitude toward service innovation. How consumer response differently when any new service launches in a country. The study used a model with six hypotheses. The 3G and 4G technology launched by Pakistani government is selected as service innovation to test the model. A structured Questionnaire is developed to collect data. The structural equation modeling is used to test the hypothesis. The result shows that perceived ease of use, perceived price fairness, fashion consciousness is positively relates to the customer attitude toward service innovation. Moreover risk aversion and satisfaction with existing services is negatively related to consumer attitude toward service innovation. The practical implication is that before introducing any new service the service provider must think from the perspective of consumers. The relationship discovered in this study required further research on this topic. The data collected from multiple geographical boundaries will generate better results. The research focusing on service innovation is relatively rare. And the factor which influences the customer attitude toward service innovation is different from product innovation

OBJECTIVE: To find out the number of work-related thumb pain and its associated risk factors and their preferences to treat among manual physiotherapists. METHODS: This cross-sectional study used a modified self-administered questionnaire among manual physiotherapists in the government and private hospitals of Lahore, Pakistan. Sixty physiotherapists were recruited using simple consecutive sampling. Data was analyzed through SPPS v.21.0. RESULTS: Out of 60 physiotherapists, 35 (58.3%) were males. Majority (n=43; 71.6%) had age 45 hours per week. Out of 33 (55%) physiotherapists with work-related painful thumbs, 75.8% (n=25/33) had work experience of 1-5 years and 24.24% (n=8/33) worked for >45 hours per week. About 55% (n=33/60) of all physiotherapists and 52% (n=17/33) of those with painful thumbs had no preventive information. Hand-position B was common in all physiotherapists (n=36/60; 60%) and in those with painful thumbs (n=21/33: 64%). Almost 97% (n=32/33) of physiotherapists with painful thumbs were right-handed. Interphalangeal joint was the most affected joint (n=10/33; 30.3%) and affected thumb was dominant in nature in 84.8% (n=28/33) cases. Trigger point therapy (n=7; 11.7%) was a major cause to provoke symptoms. Stabilization exercise was found to be most satisfying treatment (n=6/9; 66.67%). CONCLUSION: A high percentage of work-related thumb pain was recorded among the manual physiotherapists of Lahore. Most of them suffer from work-related pain due to the execution of manual therapy techniques, while stabilization exercise is the most satisfied therapy for thumb pain among them.

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) of the Pakistani government created an e-tax filing facility in 2005 to make it easier for taxpayers to file their tax returns online. Online tax returns are seen as quick, simple and cost-effective. In this paper, we describe the purpose of the tax filer to utilise the e-tax filing system theoretically after fifteen years of implementation in Pakistan, as explained in this paper by the researcher data was collected from 250 e-tax filing portal users located within the city of Lahore. The results show that subjective norm and attitude towards using e-tax filing portal are associated with intention to use significantly. At present, FBR is making considerable efforts to promote the use of electronic filing systems. This study may help the FBR develop a more efficient scheme for increasing the use of electronic filing among Pakistani taxpayers. Limits and future instructions are provided at the conclusion of the essay.