property tax decentralisation programpublic...

Property Tax Decentralisation Program

Punjab, Pakistan

(TF092808)

Business Blueprint

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Excise and Taxation Department – Business Blueprint ___________________________________________________________________________________

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Institute of Revenues Rating and Valuation / World Bank



Document History

Project Name: Excise and Taxation Department Business Blueprint

Author: IRRV World Bank Team

Owner: World Bank

Document Name: Business Blueprint

Distribution

This document has been distributed to: -

Name Title

David Magor International Consultant (Taxation)

Patrick Doherty International Consultant (Taxation)

Gabor Peteri Institutional Development Expert

Mark P Doherty International Expert (Information Technology)

Mihaly Kopanyi Senior Infrastructure Specialist, World Bank

Documentation Validity

This document is only valid on the day it was published.



Table of Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................... 9 ES 1 INTRODUCTION TO THE BLUEPRINT ............................................................................................... 9 ES 2 THE NEED FOR CHANGE .................................................................................................................... 9 ES 3 GOVERNANCE AND FISCAL ISSUES ................................................................................................... 9 ES 4 OPERATIONAL AND ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE ......................................................................... 10 ES 5 HUMAN RESOURCES, ORGANISATION AND MANAGEMENT ....................................................... 11 ES 6 PROPERTY TAX POLICY ................................................................................................................... 11 ES 7 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY. ........................................................................................................ 12 ES 8 CORE ADMINISTRATION .................................................................................................................. 12 ES 9 CUSTOMER SERVICES ....................................................................................................................... 13 ES 10 PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT ....................................................................................................... 13 ES 11 REPORT STRUCTURE ..................................................................................................................... 13

SECTION ONE INTRODUCTION TO THE BLUEPRINT ...................................................... 15 1.1 WHAT IS A BLUEPRINT? .................................................................................................................... 15 1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE BLUEPRINT AND BUSINESS CASE ................................................................. 15 1.3 SCOPE OF THE BLUEPRINT ................................................................................................................ 15 1.4 HOW THE BLUEPRINT HAS BEEN PRODUCED ................................................................................. 15 1.5 DOCUMENT CONVENTIONS ............................................................................................................... 16 1.6 THE IRRV WORLD BANK TEAM ...................................................................................................... 16 1.7 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................................ 16 1.8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................................................... 16

SECTION TWO .................................................................................................................................. 17

THE NEED FOR CHANGE AND THE CONSEQUENTIAL VISION, MISSION AND OPERATING PRINCIPLES .............................................................................................................. 17

2.1 THE NEED FOR CHANGE ..................................................................................................................... 17 2.2 PROPERTY TAX DEPARTMENT - VISION ......................................................................................... 17 2.3 MISSION AND VALUES OF TAX ADMINISTRATION .......................................................................... 19 2.4 DRIVERS ............................................................................................................................................... 19 2.5 KEY OUTCOMES .................................................................................................................................. 20 2.6 OPERATING PRINCIPLES .................................................................................................................... 21 2.7 WHAT DOES THIS MEAN IN PRACTICE ........................................................................................... 21

2.7.1 Organisation ................................................................................................................................... 21 2.7.2 Customer Services ......................................................................................................................... 22 2.7.3 Performance .................................................................................................................................... 22 2.7.4 Solutions [system, processes, function] ............................................................................... 22

SECTION THREE .............................................................................................................................. 23

INSTITUTIONAL AND GOVERNANCE ARRANGEMENTS ..................................................... 23 3.1 OPTIONS FOR HIGH LEVEL GOVERNANCE ARRANGEMENTS ...................................................... 23

3.1.1 Centralised model ......................................................................................................................... 24 3.1.2 Decentralised model .................................................................................................................... 25 3.1.3 Combined Model ............................................................................................................................ 29

3.2 CHOICE OF MODELS............................................................................................................................ 30 3.3 FISCAL DECENTRALISATION IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE ............................................ 31

SECTION FOUR ................................................................................................................................. 33

OPERATIONAL AND ORGANISATIONAL DESIGN .................................................................. 33 4.1 ORGANISATION DESIGN PRINCIPLES .............................................................................................. 33 4.2 E&T DEPARTMENT - HIGH LEVEL ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE ........................................... 34



4.3 PROPERTY TAX DIVISION - HIGH LEVEL ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE ................................. 35 4.4. POLICY DEVELOPMENT- HIGH LEVEL ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE .................................... 36 4.5. BUILDING BLOCKS FOR ORGANISATIONAL DESIGN ..................................................................... 37 4.6 CULTURE OF NEW ORGANISATION .................................................................................................. 38

SECTION FIVE HUMAN RESOURCES ...................................................................................... 41 5.1 THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRAINING .................................................................................................. 41 5.2 THE TRAINING UNIT .......................................................................................................................... 42 5.3 IMPROVING STAFF MOTIVATION ..................................................................................................... 42 5.7 COSTING ............................................................................................................................................... 46 5.8 REDUCING THE CORRUPTION RISKS ................................................................................................ 46 5.9 E&T COMMITMENT TO STAFF ......................................................................................................... 46

SECTION SIX ...................................................................................................................................... 49

DEVELOPING THE PROPERTY TAX POLICY ........................................................................... 49 6.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 49 6.2 FISCAL INCENTIVES, REVENUE EQUALISATION AND LOCAL ACCOUNTABILITY ......................... 50 6.3 THE TAX BASE .................................................................................................................................... 51 6.4 REVALUATION OF PROPERTY ........................................................................................................... 51 6.5 EXEMPTIONS AND RELIEFS ............................................................................................................... 51 6.6 DIFFERENTIAL RATING ...................................................................................................................... 52 6.7 QUALITY OF PROPERTY TAX RECORDS ........................................................................................... 52 6.7 EFFICIENCY IN TAX COLLECTION ..................................................................................................... 52 6.8 ENFORCEMENT OF PROPERTY TAX ................................................................................................. 52 6.9 PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AND QUALITY CONTROL ............................................................ 53

SECTION SEVEN TECHNOLOGY ............................................................................................... 55 TECHNOLOGY - SOFTWARE .................................................................................................................. 55 7.1 THE ETAC SYSTEM ............................................................................................................................ 55 7.2 GIS SYSTEM ......................................................................................................................................... 57 7.3 MASS APPRAISAL SYSTEM................................................................................................................. 58 7.4 DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ............................................................................................... 59 7.5 DATA STRUCTURE .............................................................................................................................. 61 7.6 IT APPLICATIONS DEVELOPMENT POLICY ..................................................................................... 61 TECHNOLOGY – OTHER .......................................................................................................................... 62 7.7 INTRANET ............................................................................................................................................ 62 7.8 INTERNET ............................................................................................................................................. 62 7.9 DOMAIN NAME AND EMAIL REGISTRATION .................................................................................... 63 TECHNOLOGY – HARDWARE ............................................................................................................... 64 7.10 COMPUTERISATION .......................................................................................................................... 64 7.11 INFRASTRUCTURE ............................................................................................................................ 64 7.12 NETWORKING AND COMMUNICATIONS ........................................................................................ 65 7.13 MINIMUM SYSTEM SPECIFICATION DOCUMENT ......................................................................... 65 7.14 HISTORICAL DATA ........................................................................................................................... 65

SECTION EIGHT ............................................................................................................................... 67

CORE ADMINISTRATION .............................................................................................................. 67 8.1 ADMINISTRATION ............................................................................................................................... 67 8.2 ADOPTION OF DATA PROTECTION PRINCIPLES............................................................................. 67 8.3 APPLICATION OF INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS ............................................................................ 68 8.4 ACCEPTABLE USE POLICIES .............................................................................................................. 69 8.5 AUDIT OF HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE .......................................................................................... 70 8.6 BACKUPS .............................................................................................................................................. 70 8.7 DISASTER RECOVERY ......................................................................................................................... 71 8.8 GREEN / RECYCLING / DISPOSAL POLICY ...................................................................................... 72



8.9 POTENTIAL ADOPTION OF OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE ................................................................. 73 8.10 SECURITY PRINCIPLES ..................................................................................................................... 73 8.11 SYSTEMS SUPPORT .......................................................................................................................... 74 8.12 TRANSPORTATION OF DATA ........................................................................................................... 75 8.13 USER GROUP ..................................................................................................................................... 75

SECTION NINE CUSTOMER SERVICES ................................................................................... 77 9.1 CURRENT CUSTOMER SERVICES ....................................................................................................... 77 9.2 CUSTOMER FOCUS AND ACCESS ....................................................................................................... 77 9.3 CUSTOMER SERVICE DESIGN PRINCIPLES ..................................................................................... 78 9.4 CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY .............................................................................................. 79 9.5 CREATION OF PILOT MODEL OFFICES .............................................................................................. 80

SECTION TEN .................................................................................................................................... 81

PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT ..................................................................................................... 81 10.1 PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT UNIT ............................................................................................... 81 10.2 PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT STEERING GROUP......................................................................... 82 10.3 WORKING GROUPS ........................................................................................................................... 82 10.4 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................................................... 83

APPENDIX A BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................. 85

APPENDIX B EXAMPLE ELECTRONIC MAIL (E-MAIL) POLICY ..................................... 87

APPENDIX C EXAMPLE INTERNET POLICY......................................................................... 91

APPENDIX D GLOSSARY OF TERMS / ABBREVIATIONS ................................................. 93



Executive Summary

Following a number of World Bank reports a new Punjab Immovable Property Tax Law (PIPT) was drafted in May 2008 and the Bank appointed the Institute of Revenues Rating and Valuation (IRRV) to assess the needs and resources required for the structural reform of the property tax. This Blueprint is the outcome of that assessment.

ES 1 Introduction to the Blueprint

The Blueprint, which has been developed from the inception report and the diagnostic report prepared for the World Bank by the IRRV, identifies seven major over-reaching areas where reform of the Excise and Taxation Department and / or the Urban Immovable Property Tax is essential and makes recommendations in respect of each of the areas.

ES 2 The Need for Change

Property taxation has a long tradition in Pakistan but the Urban Immovable Property Tax (UIPT) provides for only a small amount of revenues because of unclear local government fiscal incentives, an unreliable information base, a high level of reliefs and exemptions, a low level of motivation and expertise, and insufficient capacity in the UIPT administration.

Property tax collection is low by international standards and a recent press report in respect of the fiscal year 2008/09 stated that the Punjab has the lowest level of property tax collection in Pakistan in comparison with the other Provinces (this report appeared in a press article but did not give comparative figures).

According to the report this comparatively low level of collection applies also to the other taxes that are the responsibility of the Excise and Taxation Department suggesting that a root and branch reorganisation of the Department is required.

This blueprint proposes a series of recommendations relating to administrative changes and reforms that will increase the tax base and help to improve collection.

ES 3 Governance and Fiscal Issues

The Department has a complex hierarchical management / dual subordination structure. Under the current dual subordination arrangements Executive District Officers (EDO) are responsible for management of the District Excise and Taxation officers and they report directly to the District Coordination Officers (DCO) within each District.

It is considered that the relationship between the Provincial E&T Department and the Districts has to change in order for the Department to move forward and the Blueprint proposes three alternative models:

Centralised Model



In this model all the components of property tax including rate setting, administration (assessment, billing, collection, enforcement, etc.) will be kept at Provincial level.

Decentralised Model

Two decentralised models are considered –

Model one – Envisages fiscal decentralisation to the Cities / TMAs in relation to responsibility for rate setting but also responsibility for a devolved administration that includes valuation, maintenance of the tax base, reductions and reliefs, billing, collection, enforcement of the property tax administration and ICT with the Provincial E&T Department being responsible for overall policy, regulatory and audit functions;

Model two – Envisages fiscal decentralisation to the Cities / TMA's in relation to responsibility for rate setting and determination of reliefs with the administration of the property tax, including valuation, maintenance of the tax base, exemptions, billing, collection, enforcement, ICT and regulatory and audit functions being the responsibility of the E&T Department but accountable to the local authorities for their performance.

Combined Model

This model recognises that the cities are large units with the resources and the organization to become responsible for the billing, collection and enforcement elements of the property tax as well as the policy elements; whilst the smaller TMA’s enter in to service level agreements for the provincial government to undertake all the functions except for rate setting.

The poorly designed intergovernmental transfer system results in three main issues:

Sub-provincial governments have limited incentives for increasing property tax revenues;

The revenue sharing mechanism does not take into account the local property tax raising capacity, and

The basic mechanisms of local accountability are missing.

No administrative changes will be successful and long lasting without structural changes in the intergovernmental fiscal relations. The Blueprint states that proper incentives set by the intergovernmental relations will improve the present human, organisational capacities and would make tax administration more effective. However, this reform of intergovernmental finances in Punjab would require careful preparations and a sound policy development process.

ES 4 Operational and Organisational Change

With the introduction of the Punjab Local Government Ordinance 2001 UIPT administration was devolved to local government but responsibility for the overall management control of UIPT remained with the Provincial E&T Department.



Practically none of the declared objectives of the devolved structure has been achieved and this has led to collection and enforcement staff having difficulty in determining priorities in relation to the actual collection process and divided loyalties in terms of the management structure.

This confusion of responsibility has led to an uneasy management structure and no clear lines of management responsibility or accountability.

In order to resolve this confused management style and to introduce the concepts of internal check, separation of duties and internal control the Blueprint proposes a new management structure for the Department that incorporates:

Policy development;

Training and development of staff;

ICT Support;

Separation of functions between valuation, billing/collection, enforcement and customer services

ES 5 Human Resources, Organisation and Management

The staff receives little or no formal training and there is no formal mechanism in place for undertaking a training needs analysis. The E&T does not have any in-house training facilities.

The Blueprint proposes:

The development of human resource planning as the Department and the Districts face a critical challenge: managing an aging (and declining) workforce as it encounters a wave of retirements over the next decade.

The Department address new concepts in work force management, changing physical work environments, new ways of managing human resources and new techniques to measure performance.

ES 6 Property Tax Policy

There are some 1.2m taxable properties but some 2,6m properties entered in the tax base. A high level of exemptions and reliefs is eroding the tax base together with a tax rate differential between self occupied and rented properties.

The UIPT applies only to urban areas and the valuation tables are out of date and do not reflect current market rental values. Within the urban areas there are areas that are classified as rural but are urban in nature and, therefore, not subject to UIPT. In addition there are some TMA’s that are not declared as rating areas and there are some TMA’s that have not declared rating areas within their administrative area.

The Department has no policy support and policy development is undertaken on an ad hoc reactive basis rather being a consistent pro-active approach.

To address these issues and widen the tax base the Blueprint proposes that:



Further consideration be given to the draft law on property tax that was prepared in 2008 – if adopted this will have the effect of widening the tax base to include up to five million properties.

A revaluation of all properties is undertaken;

Those areas that are classified as rural but are urban in nature be reclassified;

TMA’s that have not declared as rating areas be required to do so;

A review of the reliefs and exemptions is undertaken with a view to reducing them;

The differential between self-occupied properties and rented properties be eliminated or at least reduced;

Indexation of tax rates is introduced.

ES 7 Information technology.

There is little use of ICT in the E&T Department although a basic billing system is being developed and a GIS system is under development within the Urban Unit of the Planning and Development Department.

The Blueprint considers that the major component and key to the success of the modernisation of the property tax and improved collection is the development of a modern ICT system and this is reflected in the section on technology. It is also the element that will link the management of the Districts to the Provincial E&T Department and will enable a consistent approach to the administration of the property tax.

The Blueprint proposes that there is a need to improve access to technology for staff and customers, which will lead to improvements in information management and communication by:

Enhancing and developing the ETAC system to international standards;

Developing a document management system;

Introducing office systems;

Designing and building a Departmental intranet;

Implementing a Departmental email system;

ES 8 Core Administration

The Blueprint recommends the introduction of a series of core administrative tasks relative to efficient administration in an electronic environment. Some of these tasks are critical in winning taxpayer confidence and reducing the impact of fraud and corruption, they include:

The adoption of data protection principles

Introducing effective procedures for backups and disaster recovery

The adoption of data security principles



ES 9 Customer Services

The Department is not customer focused and the customer facilities are poorly designed, unwelcoming and in need of a complete overhaul.

The Blueprint proposes that the Department needs to become more customer centric by developing a customer access strategy that includes:

The development of modern customer service centres;

Access by electronic means such as the website, digital television (if available) Interactive kiosks, modern telephone system, and text messaging;

Customer access to information using consultation, website, television, newspapers, information leaflets etc.

The need to have a “walk before you run” policy so that a sound understanding of delivering good customer service can be assimilated and the Blueprint proposes that as part of the development process a model office(s) is created to test the proposed approaches.

ES 10 Programme Management

The Blueprint identifies the issues summarised above and others and sets out recommendations / proposals that will improve the efficiency and increase the taxable capacity of the Provincial Government.

The above broad areas are closely connected, and it is essential that the future reform of the property tax is implemented by ensuring that the problems are solved in parallel or at least the reform steps are made in the right sequence.

It is essential, as recommended in this report, that the E&T Department takes a coordinated and consistent approach to change and establishes a Programme Change Unit with a high level Steering Group directing and monitoring progress.

ES 11 Report Structure

The report contains the following sections –

Section One: Sets out the principles on which the blue print is based.

Section Two: Vision, Mission and Operating Principles.

Section Three: Institutional and Governance Arrangements.

Section Four: Operational and Organisational Design.

Section Five: Human Resources.

Section Six: Developing the Property Tax Policy.

Section Seven: Technology.

Section Eight : Core administration

Section Nine: Customer Services.



Section Ten: Programme Management.



SECTION ONE INTRODUCTION TO THE BLUEPRINT

1.1 What is a Blueprint?

The Blueprint represents an expression of the organisation, process and solution design for all areas covered in the vision of a modern, fit for purpose Property Tax Division. The scope of the document covers both the high level design of the new organisation as well as the programme to deliver the specific operation together with human resources, procurement and end-to-end processes.

The rationale for the establishment of a modern Excise and Taxation Department (E&T) is a combination of the increased focus on increasing revenues, improving efficiency and harnessing a number of transformational programmes.

1.2 Objectives of the Blueprint and Business Case

To share the design of the E&T Department operating model and supporting processes including the customer service cycle. The document highlights the impact of the changes recommended and which will be driven by the new processes, and how these are going to be managed.

The Blueprint works as a communication tool, or as a reference document to be shared with stakeholders and is written in sufficient detail to be the principle document in planned communications to customers and staff.

It is a document that will need to be approved by the Provincial Government and owned by the E&T management to ensure delivery of the programme in accordance with the budgets allocated, the service provision agreed to by the stakeholders and customers and to monitor the realisation of the benefits outlined.

1.3 Scope of the Blueprint

The Blueprint outlines the strategic intent, customer engagement plan, business processes and business case for the E&T Department (Property Tax) and is presented in two parts –

Part One – Report and recommendations

Part Two – The development of a time based action plan to create a stand-alone Property Tax Division and to improve the administration of property tax collection.

1.4 How the Blueprint has been produced

The blueprint has been assembled and developed by the IRRV World Bank team with information from key stakeholders. The content has been developed by undertaking a series of activities including a workshop, process assessments, E&T staff feedback and industry best practice.

The business case and benefits summarised in this blueprint are based on the business case approved by the Provincial Government in November 2005



when the World Bank was first engaged. Updated where appropriate with new information provided by existing and future stakeholders and customers.

1.5 Document Conventions

This document has been produced with reference to Prince 2 standards.

The contents of this document will be developed iteratively.

1.6 The IRRV World Bank Team

David Magor, Chief Executive, IRRV, International Consultant (Taxation)

Patrick Doherty, Council Member, IRRV, International Consultant (Taxation)

Gabor Peteri, LGI Development Ltd. Institutional Development Expert

Mark Doherty, International Expert (Information Technology)

The IRRV team report to Mr. Mihaly Kopanyi, the Senior Infrastructure Specialist of the World Bank and Task Manager for this particular project.

1.7 References

Document references are in Appendix A

1.8 Acknowledgements

The IRRV World Bank Team would like to express our thanks and gratitude to the current Secretary, the former Secretary and the Deputy Secretary (Technical) Excise and Taxation and all the staff of the Department for their help and cooperation in the preparation of the Inception Report, the Scope Evaluation Report the Blueprint and the Action Plan.



SECTION TWO

THE NEED FOR CHANGE AND THE CONSEQUENTIAL VISION, MISSION AND OPERATING PRINCIPLES

2.1 The need for change

Property taxation in the Punjab is in desperate need of modernisation. The potential benefits of the Urban Immovable Property Tax cannot be realised under the present system of intergovernmental finances. Local governments are not accountable to the tax payers, because they are not involved in the property tax policy design and in tax administration.

The administration has been subordinated in the overall operation of the Excise and Taxation Department. The function has been neglected in terms of investment in both human resources and modern technology. The consequence has been poor coverage of the tax base and inefficient collection and administration.

The neglect has been so serious that it has created the need for a root and branch restructure of the E&T department with the creation of a stand-alone Property Tax Division being paramount. This new department will need significant investment in terms of people, administration and information technology.

The current developments are piecemeal and need to be a part of an overall structured plan. This Blueprint is the first major step in this co-ordinated change process. A major prerequisite is to place property tax in an appropriate institutional setting and the Blueprint outlines the options for this essential development.

The Blueprint lays the building blocks for the change process. Included in the proposed vision is the creation of the stand-alone Property Tax Division with restructured and properly rewarded human resources. A modern emphasis is given to customer facing services that will benefit from the introduction of significant modern operational processes.

Information technology is an important element of the change process and this is given due emphasis in the Blueprint. The proposals include modern administrative approaches, which should be tested in a “model office” and can then be used as an operational laboratory to test all theories and opinions. The technical approach is also reinforced with the proposed creation of a training unit, the use of an intranet and links to a professional institute.

The overall change is dependant on creating the appropriate institutional setting that will enable the new Division to prosper and grow.

2.2 Property Tax Department - Vision

The vision for the modern Property Tax Division is of a customer focused, efficient, service organisation that provides property tax assessment, collection and administrative services to all within the overall E&T structures.



The Division will be an independent organisation within the framework of a governance structure of the E&T Department that aligns to the delivery of services to the aims, strategy and policies of all its customers. Local governments (Cities/TMAs) will have increased powers to influence decisions on property tax policy and will have authority to control tax administration. The intergovernmental fiscal framework will make them more interested in higher property tax revenue collection.

The Property Tax Division is focused on achieving outcomes and benefits for stakeholders and customers through the transformation of the Division.

The vision means that the Property Tax Division will be able to differentiate themselves and their services by focusing on the end customer rather than just efficiencies. By focusing on the outcome and service offering, the Property Tax Department will be able to add ‘value’ to customer operations over and above what they can deliver alone.

Customers and stakeholders will be at the heart of all operational activities and improvement plans. Customers and stakeholders have increasingly sophisticated requirements and demand ever higher standards of service so building better relationships with customers in order to fully understand their needs is one way to achieve an advantage; another is to create a confident, knowledgeable and motivated workforce and rewarding culture.

In order to achieve this the Property Tax Division needs to become entirely focused on customers and stakeholders and their requirements, service delivery and employee communication at all levels will be “best in class”.

The commitment to customers and stakeholders will need to go deep into service delivery. The approach is to create an organisation for customers and stakeholders that means that:

The customer and stakeholder will receive a service that offers superior value to the outcome. To deliver the Division will work collaboratively with them to understand their needs and introduce a ‘service relationship’ element to the organisation;

The customers and stakeholders will be able to differentiate the service from other offerings because of its simplicity, quality, ease of access, responsiveness to enquiries and integrated delivery;

Through an effective methodology of continuous improvement, the Property Tax Division will be able to develop new services that offer better value, which will require a focus on performance, costs, responsiveness and outcomes;

The Division will need to promote the work that they do to demonstrate and influence customers and stakeholders that what they do is better than anyone else.

The key features of the Property Tax Division vision include:

High standard of customer care – transparency of service delivery, and the monitoring of performance through the service relationship framework;

Scalable solution – an operating model that is capable of providing services to the wider E&T family (and others);



Service provision provided by an autonomous delivery organisation with strong governance arrangements;

Common, simplified and integrated processes – clear end to end process integration, with clear split between policy and delivery, and a slimmer corporate centre;

Creating a diverse organisation that integrates sustainable development into all processes and operations;

Delivery of quality services supported by consistent data and enhanced management information;

Optimised use of technology to maximise investment and efficiency opportunities; and

Operational arrangements that enshrine best practice in separation of duties and internal check;

2.3 Mission and Values of tax administration

The Property Tax Division will be an efficient provider of valuation, collection and administration services to its customers and stakeholders. The solution will be scalable to enable expansion within the E&T Department and beyond.

The organisation will focus on providing quality services at a competitive price, delivering a solution that is of net benefit to the taxpayer, with a culture of continuous improvement to identify and drive realisation of benefit underpinned by investment in staff as its most valuable asset and by working collaboratively with customers.

2.4 Drivers

There are a number of key drivers behind the modernisation of the Property Tax Department

To significantly improve the level of revenues collected;

To significantly improve the service delivered to customers;

To support a culture of employee satisfaction, high motivation and self sufficiency;

To become a provider of quality management information by:

o Providing customers with fast access to a wide range of performance information; and

o Delivery of consistent data;

To develop a reputation within the Provincial Government for an excellence of service provision;

To support better integration within the E&T Department and mitigate the risk of fragmentation by:

o Reducing duplication;

o Utilising the opportunities common procedures in end to end processes



o Maximising the investment in ETAC as the foundation platform; and

o Providing a platform for growth and scalability (the growth in the tax base);

o Supporting a formal framework for developing “customer service” and professional skills;

Deliver a sustainable reduction in operating expenses by:

o Delivering economies of scale;

o Supporting efficiency reviews; and

o Releasing resource to the font line and provide good value to the taxpayer.

2.5 Key Outcomes

The Property Tax Division will be committed to delivering the following outcomes by 2015:

More easily accessible and responsive services through the use of technology and well trained staff;

Greater co-operation and sharing of best practice through the use of agreed indicators and benchmarks;

Improved accountability at all levels throughout the Division;

Better management of customer service delivery, specification of requirements and expectations;

Continuous improvement in service delivery;

Better management information;

A robust tax base and improved collection; and

Seen by other provincial government departments as an exemplar collection operation.



2.6 Operating Principles

Operating

Dimension Design Principles

Processes Common processes across the Department

Efficient, lower cost processes

Continuous improvement

Technology Automation through enabling technologies to drive process efficiencies

Enable and maximise use of self-service through internet technology

Aligned with other initiatives

Organisation Simpler, devolved management structure

Principally organised along functional lines

Linking performance management to organisational development

Holistic talent management approach to recruitment and retention of staff

Service

Management Robust management of the tax base

Customer-focused and collaborative

Ability to grow

Performance linked to outcomes

Development of mature, informed customers by developing customer access strategy

2.7 What Does This Mean in Practice

Accepting the principle of “service excellence delivers your success’ there are four elements that will achieve E&T’s aim:

2.7.1 Organisation

The design of the organisational structure will be focused on improving the customer experience.

Will adopt the appropriate values, behaviours and competencies, and re-organise accordingly, to underpin organisational success.

Investment made in enabling technologies will underpin the move towards self service for both managers and their teams

Will invest in people to develop a multi-skilled workforce that is motivated, efficient and flexible to meet operational needs and provide a work environment that is conducive to continuous professional development through the provision of training, coaching and career paths.

Will transfer best practice knowledge to and from customers and experts to build capacity within the Division for continued success.



2.7.2 Customer Services

The service delivery will be designed to be customer centric with a focus on excellent customer service.

Will work with the needs of the customer in mind to proactively take account of their needs during the feasibility, design, onboarding & transition periods to ensure that the transition to the new operation is as seamless & smooth a process as possible.

Will work collaboratively with any customer organisations to understand their requirements and ensure that E&T expertise supports and delivers the appropriate solutions.

Will actively work on knowledge transfer and building capacity within the organisation to be able to develop with the need for only minimal external support.

2.7.3 Performance

The operating model will support and enhance the delivery of a value for money service in a number of ways. For example through the simplification of processes, economies of scale, new service definition or changed ways of working.

Will optimise current investments and make full use of aggregation to achieve economies of scale, i.e. the appropriate rationalisation of existing facilities in order to achieve the desired scale does not necessarily mean centralisation of all operations.

Will use recognised international benchmarks and jointly accepted performance indicators to achieve, a high level of performance.

Will approach planning and delivery activity with a sense of pragmatism and reality, without losing a sense of focus & urgency.

Will deliver a culture where learning, evaluation and continuous improvement are a key part of our operations and the way E&T will work with customers.

2.7.4 Solutions [system, processes, function]

Will be focused on delivering outcomes and benefits for all our taxpayers and customers.

The design of all the processes within and interfacing with the stated functional areas from a departmental and customer perspective

The process areas to include pay and reward, travel and expenses, payroll, recruitment, work and life events, organisational management, training administration, occupational health, health and safety, estates strategy, facilities management and management information.

Will adopt, as a starting principle, common end-to-end processes in order to avoid re-invention and duplication wherever possible.



SECTION THREE

INSTITUTIONAL AND GOVERNANCE ARRANGEMENTS

3.1 Options for High Level Governance Arrangements

Governance is the means by which processes, organisation, principles and policies are collectively applied to steer and manage the provision and investment in the E&T department.

In determining an appropriate governance model the following principles should be followed:

Governance should be pragmatic, streamlined and be capable of achieving fast and effective resolution of issues;

Transparent and open;

Strong emphasis on customer involvement;

Independent expertise;

The governance arrangements must support:

Effective and efficient performance management;

Flexibility to meet business needs;

Exercising control at the right points; and

Ability to sustain common standard processes that improve performance.

The present governance arrangements do not meet the above criteria and one of the most critical problems of UIPT administration, identified by the gap analysis (set out in the diagnostic report) is the dual subordination of E&T Department. Dual subordination means, that the administration of the field offices of the E&T Department is devolved to District governments, but in reality the Provincial level has retained responsibility for their performance and exercises influence over the operational arrangements.

The PLGO 2001 envisaged that through the process of fiscal decentralization the TMAs / Cities would take responsibility for UIPT. Property Tax is designated as a local government tax and the TMAs and City District have the authority to set the tax rate although this not been enabled because the tax rate is fixed in the UIPT Act 1958 and no amendments have been made to this piece of legislation.

This position of the local tax offices shows that effective devolution was not implemented and the decentralisation process was left unfinished. So the dual subordination of the District Offices is not only a simple organisational and management issue, but it is the consequence of the rules on intergovernmental relations.

The TMA's have no accountability in relation to the UIPT because of their inability to set the tax rate and they take little interest in the revenues generated. The intergovernmental transfer system does not provide sufficient



incentives at sub provincial level for increasing UIPT revenues. The District and TMA level do not benefit from UIPT, as it is a relatively low element among local own source revenues and, therefore, the grant dependency is high.

The revenue sharing mechanisms are not favourable for the local governments, as they do not take into account the property tax raising capacity. Most of the reallocated UIPT goes to WASA. The annual ratios of UIPT sharing are not predictable and the actual collection levels are rather volatile.

Changes in the status of the District Offices should be implemented within the framework of a broader reform of the competencies of UIPT policy and the related reorganisation of property tax administration. The purpose being to ensure that the management arrangements are clear and unequivocal.

At the present time the staff at the District offices effectively serve two masters with their salaries being paid by the District Governments but their operational direction coming from the Provincial level.

In order to resolve this confusion of accountability and administrative responsibility we set out below three basic options for future actions and which will have to satisfy a number of key stakeholders:

The Provincial Government - whose primary concerns are an effective and efficient tax collection process and maximisation of income.

The Excise and Taxation Department – whose primary interests are effective and efficient collection, improving customer service and improving working conditions for staff.

Local Governments – whose primary interest should be maximisation of revenues.

Taxpayers – whose primary interests are an efficient and cost effective collection process and good customer service.

All of the models shown below should be capable of delivering the above objectives of the various stakeholders but each will require commitment and resources to make them work.

3.1.1 Centralised model

It can be argued that the current arrangements constitute a centralised model but in fact they are effectively a “half-way” house in that the responsibility for all elements of rate setting, policy, assessment and collection of UIPT lies with the Provincial Government through the E&T Department with the local authorities, at least theoretically, receiving the benefit of the revenues collected. In practice property tax revenues would be reallocated through the revenue sharing and the transfer schemes. That means they might be diverted to other heads of public expenditures and not be fully paid over to the local governments.

In addition the field staff are technically responsible to the local authorities but look to the E&T Department for leadership.



As stated above not all the revenues are paid over directly to the local authorities and they take little interest in the assessment and collection process or how efficiently or effectively the E&T Department is operating it. There is no accountability exercised by either party to the current arrangements in relation to taxpayers.

In a fully centralised model the E&T Department would exercise all responsibility for the assessment and collection process with all staff reporting directly to the Department. It would also become accountable for its performance to the Provincial Government. All revenues collected would accrue to the Provincial Government, which would just treat it as part of its general revenues. The local authorities would then receive central government grant for the provision of services, which is currently the case with those local authorities that fail to declare rating areas.

It can be argued that this centralised model is outwith the current PLGO Act 2001, which envisaged a decentralised property tax - but which has never been fully implemented.

3.1.2 Decentralised model

Property tax is widely recognised as a particularly suitable tax for local governments and the PLGO Act 2001 envisaged that the current UIPT would revert to local authorities but as indicated in 3.1.1 above this has not been fully realised.

The work undertaken by the World Bank in assisting the Provincial Government in 2008 to develop a new draft law on property tax envisaged that a new enhanced property tax would be a local government tax but that local authorities would have to take responsibility, at least in the areas of tax policy, for the tax.

In determining what is meant by ‘decentralisation’ in the context of the administration of property tax and in the context of fiscal decentralisation there are two models that can be considered

Decentralised Model One

In model one all the functions of a property tax are devolved to the Cities / TMAs, which take full responsibility for rate setting, the tax base, reductions and reliefs AND the valuation and assessment of immoveable properties as well the billing, collection and enforcement components of tax administration.

The only functions being retained at the centre being the regulatory and auditing functions to ensure full compliance with the tax law and overall Provincial Government policy.



Table 1: Decentralised Model One

Local (City/TMA) functions

Valuation, Assessment

IT, Training, Accreditation, R&D

Local Policy e.g. rate setting, tax base, reductions, reliefs

Billing and collection

Enforcement, compliance

Customer Service Centres

Central Function

Regulation & Audit

Provincial Policy

This model would require far-ranging changes in tax administration with all elements of tax administration (Valuation, billing, collection and enforcement) being transferred to the Cities and the TMA’s.

This will be a complex task consisting of several components: -

Identification of and the actual transfer of those employees of E&T Department, who are involved in billing, collection and enforcement. This not necessarily a simple task as many of the employees have dual roles, particularly in the rural areas where staff are involved with the collection of motor vehicle taxes and the professional tax. Neither of these taxes is a local government tax.

Allocation of physical infrastructure: offices, furniture, equipment, etc.;

Transfer of databases: information on property, tax payers;

Establishing the necessary expertise to undertake valuations of properties;

Lack of uniformity in assessment if valuations undertaken on a local authority by local authority basis;

Capacity development at other units of local administration for efficient cooperation with the devolved tax administration in budgeting, urban planning, etc.

That said the principal advantage of this model would be to ensure that local authorities have to take responsibility for policy and collection and they become fully accountable for the tax. However, to ensure that local authorities collect the property tax effectively and efficiently there would have to be fiscal incentives in the subsidy arrangements to the Cities / TMAs to ensure that they were diligent in their collection and penalised by reduced expenditure levels if they failed to collect the standardised property tax revenues.

The major disadvantage of this model is that a multiplicity of working practices would develop unless there was strong policy development and regulatory



guidance from the centre and without fiscal incentives no encouragement for the Cities / TMAs to maximise collection levels.

Decentralised Model Two

An alternative model that would satisfy the principles of decentralisation but that would build on the present arrangements is for the Cities and TMA’s, within the framework of the draft law on UIPT, to determine the tax rate and have an involvement in the determination of reliefs and exemptions but all components of property tax administration (assessment, billing, collection, enforcement, etc.) will be kept at Provincial level.

In this model all the revenues (less an agreed administration charge) would revert to the local authorities with an equivalent reduction in Provincial Government subsidy.

This model would require there to be a service level agreement in place between the individual Cities / TMA's that provided transparency and robustness in a shared understanding of in-year levels of collection and losses, including debt write off and the cost of collection.

The objectives of the service level agreement would be to –

To develop performance indicators to efficiency and effectiveness of the E&T Department so that the Cities / TMA's can be satisfied that their property tax revenues are maximised.

To provide standards against which performance can be measured.

To ensure the timely delivery of a robust and accurate tax base) to enable the Cities / TMAs to set a fair and equitable rate.

To identify ongoing risks that may impact on the Cities / TMA's revenue so as to enable them to make informed decisions in relation to financial planning and monitoring.

Provide a clear basis for the collection charges due to E&T from the Cities / TMA's.



Table 2: Decentralised Model Two

Local (City / TMA) functions

Local Policy e.g. setting rate, reductions, reliefs

Contracting E&T for collection

E&T functions

Valuation, Assessment

Tax Base

Provincial policy, IT, Training, R&D

Regulation & Audit

Billing, collection

Enforcement, compliance


This model effectively legitimises the present situation with tax administration being undertaken by the Provincial government. However, in this case the connection to the local decision makers has to be ensured by local fiscal plans being prepared in cooperation with the local units of the E&T Department.

The local governments set fiscal targets, but the specific alternatives have to be calculated by the provincial tax administration. This would require smooth information flow and cooperation between the local and the provincial administrations.

The advantage of this model would be to leave the administration of the property tax to the E& T Department but leaving control of the policy issues to local government. The major disadvantage is that it is not a fully devolved model as envisaged by the Punjab Local Government Ordinance 2001 that also envisaged a devolved tax administration. However, it is noted that the current PLGO Act 2001 is to be replaced.

In terms of fiscal decentralisation, however, it meets the essential criteria of the Cities / TMA's becoming accountable for rate setting and policy independent of the Provincial Government and for ensuring that one of their revenue sources, through a service level agreement, is administered efficiently and effectively.

There are many examples of this model throughout the World, for example –

SUMA - is a public, Province based organisation that provides tax administration services (including property tax and motor vehicle taxes) to some 140 municipal councils in the province of Alicante. It operates independently of other state and municipal bodies Its foundation dates back to 1990 and was the product of previous “tax-collection services” of the Provincial Council. Suma is legally accountable to the Provincial Council and the President of this Council chairs the governing body.

SUMA is accountable to the local authorities for –



Valuation, assessment, collection and enforcement of property tax;

Collection motor vehicle road taxes;

Administration and collection of business and professional taxes;

Administration and collection of property transfer taxes.

LAND AND PROPERTY SERVICES AGENCY – is a Province based agency that provides tax administration services to local authorities in Northern Ireland. The agency is responsible to the Provincial Government for Northern Ireland and accountable to the local authorities through a service level agreement.

Whilst the Agency is responsible for a number of functions in relation to property tax it is responsible for the following,

The valuation and assessment of all domestic and non-domestic properties in Northern Ireland;

Maintaining valuation lists;

Carrying out general revaluations;

Providing a general valuation, estate-management and property-information service to government departments and the public sector in Northern Ireland;

Issuing property tax bills for private domestic properties and non-domestic properties, such as shops, factories etc;

Following up and processing payments for rate bills;

Inspecting vacant properties;

Managing the various rate-relief schemes.

3.1.3 Combined Model

This model envisages a two-part arrangement in that the large cities become responsible for the billing, collection, enforcement and customer service centres whilst the E&T Department is responsible for Provincial policy, valuation, training and Management of ICT.

In relation to the TMA’s the E&T Department would be responsible for valuation, provincial policy, ICT, training, billing, collection, enforcement, and customer service centres.



Table 3: Combined Model

District / TMA’s Large Cities

E&T Responsibilities

Valuation

Provincial Policy, IT, Training, R&D

Regulation & Audit


Enforcement


E&T Responsibilities

Valuation (inc. valuation based exemptions)

Provincial policy,

Regulation & Audit

TMA functions Large Cities Functions

Policy - rate setting

Service Level Agreement with E&T for collection

Policy - rate setting / tax base

Reliefs and exemptions


Enforcement


ICT, Training, R&D

This model recognises that the cities are large units with the resources and the organization to become responsible for the elements of the property tax shown in table 3 but with the smaller TMA’s entering in to service level agreements for the provincial government to undertake all the functions except for rate setting.

A detailed governance model, including the adjustment of intergovernmental fiscal relations needs to be developed and will require full consultation with stakeholders.

The major advantage of this model would be devolving collection to the major urban areas who could determine the necessary resources needed. As part of the adjustment of intergovernmental fiscal arrangement an incentive based subsidy related to collection levels would need to be developed to encourage collection.

For the smaller Districts the E&T Department would undertake collection on their behalf – but this would be subject to a service level agreement that would set out clearly the expected performance and the penalties involved for failure to collect.

3.2 Choice of Models

The choice between the above governance models is clearly a political decision that has to be made within the framework of the existing law and what is feasible and practical to ensure an effective and efficient property tax system.



Any of the above options, if implemented fully, would help to eliminate the present unsatisfactory dual subordination arrangements and taken with the other proposed reforms would improve efficiency.

As the property tax is seen as a tax most suitable for local authorities and to ensure that the objectives of fiscal decentralisation are achieved the IRRV team would support Decentralised Model Two outlined above as it seems to us that this model will provide a balance between achieving fiscal decentralisation in relation to local authorities and economies of scale that can be achieved through a central administration. This was also the model envisaged when the World Bank developed the new draft law on property tax in 2008.

3.3 Fiscal Decentralisation in Central and Eastern Europe

In many market economies of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), which emerged in the early nineties, local governments became key players in efforts to create an environment that promotes efficiency, financial discipline and sustainable development. This process was consistent with a world-wide trend of democratisation, private sector development and a redefined role for all levels of the public sector.

This new and important local role was part of an imperative for nations to decentralise governmental power as part of a strategy not only to promote long-term equity objectives but also to allow nations to become more efficient in mobilising their scarce resources (land, labour and capital) in an era of economic globalisation.

Although throughout CEE, decentralisation differs from country to country, there are some important common elements that emerge from similar institutional settings as in the Punjab and from common problems and challenges that need to be addressed:

a) the need for new policies and legislation affirming decentralisation, local financial autonomy, administrative independence and the redistribution of functions and responsibilities among levels of government.

b) the ambiguity of the roles of central and local government, with contradictions between functional responsibilities and fiscal systems;

c) the search for appropriate inter-governmental fiscal systems;

d) local governments remain financially, technically and administratively weak, often unable to provide services and assume new expanded responsibilities;

e) local governments are not always responsive and accountable to their constituents; and,

f) institutions supporting local government are also weak and under-funded.

The reasons to decentralise are wholly pragmatic. Decentralisation represents simultaneously a political reaction to three different phenomena: the need to reduce the previously centrally controlled system and its inherent



inefficiencies and inequities, the need to facilitate privatisation of the economy, and relieve the strained fiscal situation of central governments.

For the decentralisation process to effectively unfurl and support the call for responsive, accountable self-government there is a critical need to help develop:

a) stronger and more capable local governments;

b) an increased awareness by government officials at both central and local level of the issues, options and policy implications are required in order to engage in sector or policy dialogue and/or reform;

c) informed debate and actions to improve the policy and institutional framework in support of decentralisation;

d) specialised support for local government and related institutions to develop their management capacity, and;

e) an informed, participatory civil society, population, and key social/economic groups that understand, and support local government policy.

The IRRV Team would be pleased to elaborate on any of the above options when GoPU / E&T has determined their preferred model.



SECTION FOUR

OPERATIONAL AND ORGANISATIONAL DESIGN

4.1 Organisation Design Principles

Having determined the vision, mission and operating principles of the Property Tax Division there is a need to develop the structure that will help to deliver those principles.

The Property Tax Division will, for the foreseeable future, be part of the Excise and Taxation Department but should be structured as a separate Division within the Department to enable it to work independently of the other taxes collected by the E&T Department and enables transparency of its:

Organisation (resource management, culture);

Planning and management; and

Service performance including the tracking and assessment of agreed improvement initiatives.

The starting point for any new organisational design is to identify the optimum arrangements for a customer focused organisation incorporating policy support, staff training, internal control and separation of duties.

Our gap analysis and the previous researches identified three main areas of organisational development. Effectiveness of the E&T Department can be increased by -

Separating internal functional units of the E&T Department;

Improving the communication between the head office and the dispersed local offices;

Consolidating the management and control within the hierarchically organised Department and its District Offices.

Under the present tax legislation this task review focused on two aspects of E&T Department functions;

Firstly, the administrative duties and procedures related to all the administered taxes were identified by the types of taxes - if the organisational structure proposed below were to be adopted there would need to be a re-allocation of staff, expenditures, workload and infrastructure (office space, equipment, communication, IT, etc.). Measurement of these cost components is essential for any possible future reorganisation of the Department.

Secondly, the functional breakdown in the structures below focuses on the activities of the E&T Department. In the case of the Urban Immovable Property Tax the following main types of activities have been identified:

o Policy making, which includes decisions on taxable areas, exemptions and key operational elements of the administration process



o Property identification and assessment, which includes the use of Geographic Information Systems, the application of effective valuation theory, the gathering of market information and the use of automated valuation models.

o Billing and tax collection, which includes appropriate and timely notification of tax liabilities and the use of modern tax collection techniques.

o Enforcement, which includes the utilisation of legal processes to ensure the effective recovery of outstanding liabilities

o Customer Service, which includes a new approach to customer facing services which will embody a modern seamless service using leading edge technologies. A unique element of this is the creation of a “model office”.

These overall aspects are represented in the following paragraphs.

4.2 E&T Department - High Level Organisational Structure

Within the present structure there is little separation of functions within the Department and staff both at Provincial level and District level can be involved in the assessment and collection of several taxes with little guidance in relation to priorities. Staff do not specialise in any one area and there is no separation of duties and little or no internal checks – leaving the opportunity for maladministration including corruption.

The gap analysis identified that the Department did not have any structured training process for staff and depended on the Provincial IT Department for its technical support and implementation of systems. Given the task facing the Department in relation to the development of training and the move from manual systems to computer systems there should be dedicated units within the Department to take forward these two essential areas (both these issues are discussed later in the blueprint).

The following high level organogram structure proposes a split on functional lines so that focus can be given to the individual areas.

Figure 1: Director General's Office - High Level Organogram



4.3 Property Tax Division - High Level Organisational Structure

The second aspect of the organization of the property tax department relates to the functional organization of property tax administration and the following organogram represents a structure based on functional lines –

Figure 2: E&T – Property Tax Division - High Level Organogram

A functional structure as set out above would enable the E&T Department to develop specialised skills in relation to each of the functional areas and would provide staff with clear and unambiguous roles. It would also provide a clear management structure and assist in the development of internal control procedures.

Organising the Division on functional lines and developing along separate units for valuation, billing and collection, enforcement and customer services will enable;

Improved specialisation in each of the functional areas.

Provide for a separation of duties so that no one person can have a role in valuation and billing and collection. This structure will reduce the opportunities for corruption and will provide a system of internal check.

Enable a customer focus culture to be developed.

Reduce the confusion amongst staff about competing priorities.

A critical success factor is that the governance arrangements are correct and fit for purpose. This will include considering the appropriate forum that enables the voice of the customer to be heard.



4.4. Policy Development- High Level Organisational Structure

Present tax policy design is highly centralised and fragmented with limited cooperation between provincial and federal government. The development of tax policy is basically an ad hoc process within the department and there is no consistent and systematic approach to policy development or to research and development. The result is that there is no in depth consideration of proposals that are made and no consistent collection of data on which to base decisions. The E&T Department is not in a position to make sound revenue forecasts or impact assessments. The budgeting process does not allow sufficient time for preparing amendments and organisational changes.

The lack of policy development capacity and the lack of cooperation with the Finance Department on tax policy issues subsequently result in few, if any, well-designed, assessed and actioned proposals.

The E&T Department is not in a position to make sound revenue forecasts or impact assessments of tax policy proposals or tax administration changes because of the lack of consistent collection, and analysis, of data for management purposes or for budgetary purposes and the senior management appears to have little support within the management structure in relation to policy development.

The Department needs to develop its policy role, its regulatory and oversight functions and its advocacy functions but these are not built into the present organisational structure of the Department. So it is proposed to establish a tax policy unit at the E&T Department. It will need to have sufficient analytical capacity on tax policy development and regulatory front and on managing changes in the tax administration. It should also have legal capacity to advise on significant elements of the law and to act as an advocate in the courts on behalf of the Department. The policy support will apply across the E&T Department and not just in relation to UIPT.



Figure 3: E&T – High Level Organogram

A further option for improving the policy process is to develop the communication between various units of the Government of Punjab e.g. the E&T Department should be involved in the budget revenue design.

Establishing shared information databases with other units of government can help to develop tax administration. Joint databases not only improve the quality of the information, but also help improve the cooperation between departments in fiscal planning.

Improved policy development capacity would increase the professional and political reputation of the Department both at Provincial and at local government level.

4.5. Building Blocks for Organisational Design

The organogram in 4.4 above sets out the main functional areas that would be within the property tax department with the objective of maximising efficiency, utilising modern technology and addressing the operating principles, with particular focus on the customer ‘single point of contact’, service centres.

In designing the detailed organisational structure consideration will have to be given to the following areas -

Operational Management;



Service Relationship;

Business Support;

First Line Support;

Change Management.

The grouping of the functional process, leads to detailed consideration of how to manage the end-to-end processes and two principal factors have to be considered-

The first factor from the Department’s point of view -

o Delivering standard processes to all customers and

o Standardisation, knowledge sharing and continuous improvement

o Performance - effectiveness, efficiency, control and accountability

o Line management, spans of control, team working

The second factor is from the customer’s perspective. This will be managed through:

o Easy access to help and information

o Measurable Performance Indicators

o Agreed Service Level Agreements

o Clear accountability for resolution and escalation

o Strong customer relationships

4.6 Culture of New Organisation

One of the critical success factors in implementing a new organisational structure shared services is the ability to create a new culture for the organisation. Focusing on the culture of new structure ensures that it delivers an improved service and financial benefits that have often driven the investment. The key to the change in culture is two-fold:

To focus on measures that monitor the success of the service and performance of the process, with mechanisms in place to recognise and reward staff and teams for successful delivery.

To operate back office functions as a business, similar to a front office, customer facing group;

A new culture is also important because it is here that the ideas of flexible working and multi-skilling are introduced, practices that many organisations have used to great effect in accomplishing load balancing and an optimal staffing level.

In developing a new culture staff across the entire new organisation need to demonstrate:

A high standard of customer service;

A delivery focused ethos;



Flexibility to respond to ‘non-transactional’ business requirements; and

A willingness to adopt new ways of working to embrace a high degree of customer self-service.

The more structured organisation will also assist in introducing internal checks and quality control over the relatively large number of lower level staff. Under any new arrangement internal control mechanisms should be strengthened and the capacity of internal audit increased. It would require technical assistance and continuous support to organisational development.

Another area where the organisational culture has to be changed is related to the transparency of property tax records. In the present recording system the property tax related information cannot be made accessible to any taxpayers. In the future, the computerised mapping and inventory system will help to make this information public.

4.7 Branding of the E&T Department

In order to effectively establish and promote the E&T Department amongst the existing and potential customer base, distinctive branding will be critical to create a clear sense of purpose and direction for both customers and staff.



SECTION FIVE HUMAN RESOURCES

5.1 The Development of Training

Our analysis concluded that there is no systematic training in the civil service at provincial level. The culture of public administration training cannot be created at the tax department solely, but various forms of capacity development might be supported. There are three main areas, where different types of training programs should designed and built into the regular practice of the E&T Department.

Firstly, new entrants of the civil service, who start their career at the tax administration, should be trained on the general rules and practices of provincial and local public administration. This basic level training should target all the three thousand staff. In an ideal case it will lead to civil service entry exam.

Among the newly hired or relocated civil servants the technical staff (app. 2,000) have to be trained on the specific issues of tax administration. This is still a comprehensive training on all the aspects of tax administration.

This basic knowledge will make it possible to move the technical staff between positions and will improve the communication between various specialists. Under the proposed new organisational structure with separate functional units it would be very important for assessors to understand the problems of billing and collection and for the enforcement units to be familiar with the issues of property valuation.

Secondly, specialised, on the job training has to be provided for the three main groups of technical staff:

i. Excise and Taxation Officers and assistant ETOs (220 persons);

ii. Inspectors (app 700);

iii. Excise and Taxation Clerks and Constables (app. 1,000).

In regular intervals, but at least in every second year, the technical staff of the tax administration should be familiarised with the latest developments and legislative changes in tax administration. On a territorial basis practice oriented training can be organised for representatives of these three groups, as well. This workshop type of training might help to channel information from the field to the middle level managers.

Thirdly, special training programs, including appropriate qualification based training should be developed for promotion purposes. There is a high level of rotation in the Punjab civil service system, but internal promotion still has to be supported. Especially under the present circumstances, when promotion often means relocation of the staff. The managers have to learn the rules and administrative practices at a new local office in a different political and social environment.

The subjects of these three mains types of training programs have to be adjusted to the purposes of capacity development. Beyond the standard programs, like information sharing or dissemination of new methods (e.g. in



customer relations), there are some training topics that have to be newly developed:

For the top managers (Directors and ETOs) it is very important be familiar with the latest developments in property taxation and tax administration. International best practices can be disseminated through study tours and organisation of workshop related training programs.

For the middle level managers (ETOs, Assistant ETOs, etc.) regular training programs should be organised for supporting information exchange and learning about best practices developed at other units of E&T Department. These training programs and workshops should be problem oriented: valuation, property cadastre, IT and changes in the tax legislation.

New training is needed in public policy design and for the specific area of tax policy development. This new function is presently missing in the tax administration.

In relation to professional qualification training this could be linked to an existing appropriate professional body with accredited qualification structures and the resources and expertise to develop a browser based qualification system in conjunction with the Provincial Government.

5.2 The Training Unit

The critical questions of capacity development are

Who will provide the training, and

How can it be built into the regular practice of the E&T Department.

The first step is to create an internal Training Unit under the Director General. Thus unit would be responsible for undertaking training needs assessments, organising regular training programs, identifying the training capacity for specific issues and developing general tax administration and specific property tax related training

The training programmes should be incorporated in to the national civil service training system. Training capacities of the civil service training institutions, like the National Management Colleague, Civil Service Academy should be utilised for the purposes of the E&T Department. Mechanisms for influencing the programs of these training institutions have to be set up.

The second step is to establish the legal and financial basis for contracting private training providers. There are specific subjects (e.g. ITC topics), urgent or short-term problems (e.g. GIS) that can be most efficiently provided by private organisations. Private trainers can be used especially when the demand for training is regionally diverse (e.g. large cities or rural TMA’s). The funding of these flexible training programs has to be earmarked in the tax administration budget in a predictable way.

5.3 Improving Staff Motivation

The Pakistani civil service system is based on unified rules and rigid regulations, frequently relocating a large number of civil servants. It is highly



politicised, so the Directors and consequently the middle level management is often changed (sometimes rotating, and sometimes after three to five years returning to the same or similar job). In this administrative culture improvement of staff motivation is a long-term task that can be achieved only gradually and in harmonization with the reform of other regulations in the civil service system.

However, the E&T Department can initiate the first steps. The proposed functional review and the potential reorganisation of E&T Department by functional units will require new job descriptions for the staff. The present organisational scheme will be changed according to the new functions and responsibilities. So it provides a good opportunity to define the tasks and responsibilities within the new organisation.

Job descriptions are the minimum conditions for individual staff assessment. Assuming that the autonomy of all managers will be increased, then the appraisal of civil servants will lay down the foundations of a new organisational culture. Regular information collection and evaluation of the E&T Department employees will not only make the managerial decisions objective and the human resource policy more sound but it will also help to specify the performance criteria for individual civil servants. Indirectly, it will impose on the top managers the necessity to identify the targets and measurable outputs for the entire organisation.

Individual staff assessments will contribute to the strengthening of managerial autonomy at all levels of the Department and development of a new organisational culture of communication and feedback.

Staff appraisal with clearly formulated and stable organisational objectives and measurable outputs will help the introduction of a performance related promotion and salary scheme.

Under the present complicated and consequently opaque system of salaries and compensation schemes the managers do not have flexibility in developing merit based staff motivation schemes. Incentive schemes should be explored and can be developed by building on the precedent of other public service units, like the Federal Board of Revenues, Motorway Police, etc.

5.4 High Level Job Descriptions

A role summary for each of the key positions identified in the organogram is outlined below.

The Secretary, E&T

This is the senior executive position to head up the organisation. It has a strong outward focus and includes ambassadorial responsibilities to manage the senior relationships with the Provincial Government, the media and the extended customer base. He is responsible for policy development within the taxation area and the ability to influence and persuade senior civil servants and politicians is an important factor in achieving the objectives of the role.

The Director General

The Director General is effectively the Group Manager in relation to the various taxes and will be suitably professionally qualified and have an in depth professional knowledge and experience in taxation. He is responsible for -



Overall management of the various taxes;

For the performance of the functions,

Working with colleagues to ensure the seamless application of the processes in meeting customer needs.

Advising the Secretary on the development of new policies and procedures for the Department.

Provides a Head of Profession link for the Secretary.

The Operational Managers

The operational manager will be suitably professionally qualified and have an in depth professional knowledge and experience in taxation. They are responsible to the Director General for -

The management of the District offices;

The end to end process;

The performance of the District offices;

Working with colleagues to ensure the seamless application of the processes in meeting customer needs

Assisting in the development of new policies and procedures:

Team Managers

The Team Managers will have suitable experience and knowledge and are responsible for:

The effective operational management and delivery of the end to end process including 1st line support;

Leading implementation of new policies and procedures;

Developing strong relationships across transactional and 1st line support group managers;

Customer service delivery and response to any underperforming service provision.

Team Leaders

Team Leaders will:

Provide advice, support and line management to the respective teams;

Manage query resolution and escalation processes providing advice and interpretation;

Responsible for the day to day management of the teams ensuring that the work programme is proactively managed for coverage, performance and flexibility;

Team Members

These staff are first line support – responsible for

Dealing face to face with taxpayers and customers;



Query management;

Transactional delivery – responsible for processing activities within specific process areas;

Specialists – responsible for providing more detailed advice in specific process areas.

By applying these roles it is possible to develop an organisation which is both robust yet flexible to respond to changing and evolving requirements – up-scaling, down scaling or combining process areas where it is appropriate to the customer or where it is effective and efficient to do so.

The numbers and levels of management needs to be reviewed once a staff sizing activity has been undertaken to ensure that the Department is not over managed and maximises best practice for spans of management control.

5.5 Design Factors

The design of the organisational structure should incorporate the following factors -

The Concept of Self service

Self-service is designed to deliver procedural guidance and a simple transaction interface supporting employees, line managers and customers. Based on intranet and portal technologies, with manual functionality constantly prioritised for e-enablement over time.

Generic & Bulk queries and transaction processing

This factor will deliver generic, high volume processing and guidance, in a highly flexible, cost effective way. Access is through channels such as email, intranet and telephone.

Specific advice or manual transactions requiring specialist knowledge

More complex transactions and case workload requiring a certain degree of interpretation of policy are handled at team manager / team leader level, this tier is also responsible for resolving complex queries or carrying out detailed analysis.

Process or Function Expertise / Business Advisor

This factor is the front line service that will deliver advice to taxpayers and deal with queries relevant to their area of expertise.

In terms of satisfying the design principles and critical success factors, the groupings outlined above offer an approach that achieves both the requirement for utilisation of common processes, the development of service excellence and efficiency, minimising duplication as well as providing clear interfaces with the customer and management of agreed service levels.

5.6 Sizing of the Organisation

Sizing will need to be consistent across the different functions of the E&T Department but will be based on specific characteristics of the processes involved in the various functions set out in the organogram, To size the complete E&T it will be important to determine the numbers of teams by reference to the activity and the volume of transactions. To undertake this exercise accurate data on FTEs and volumetrics is essential.



5.7 Costing

Once the information in size and grades is available the cost of the organization can be determined.

5.8 Reducing the Corruption Risks

Corruption in the administration of property tax administration is seen as endemic and this can be eliminated only in the long run. However, there are changes in the organisation and in the management practices that will lower the risk of malpractice including corruption.

Presently the E&T Department has a centralised internal management structure. This limits the managerial capacity of higher-level managers, as they have to be involved in numerous simple administrative matters. This unstructured organisational scheme does not help to introduce internal checks and quality control over the relatively large number of lower level staff. Under these circumstances the internal control mechanisms have to be strengthened and the capacity of internal audit has to be increased.

An effective internal control system requires that -

There is appropriate segregation of duties and that personnel are not assigned conflicting responsibilities. Areas of potential conflicts of interest should be identified, minimised, and subject to careful, independent monitoring.

There are adequate and comprehensive internal financial, operational and compliance data, which should be reliable, timely, accessible, and provided in a consistent format.

Effective channels of communication in place to ensure that all staff fully understand and adhere to policies and procedures affecting their duties and responsibilities and that other relevant information is reaching the appropriate personnel.

Another area where the corruption risk can be decreased is by ensuring the transparency of property tax records. In the present recording system the property tax related information cannot be made accessible to any taxpayers. In the future, however, the GIS system under development by the Urban Unit will assist in making this information public.

5.9 E&T Commitment to Staff

The success of the Excise and Taxation Department rests with the quality of its people and a commitment to retain and develop each employee.

The E&T Department will develop a new structure designed to support a customer-focused organisation, and its key employee principles are:

The E&T Department will respect, value and develop its employees and encourage diversity;

It will have flexible working, e.g. part-time roles, flexi-time, job sharing;

It will aim to retain people with the right skills and minimise staff turnover;



The staff will be trained to operate in a customer focused environment;

All employees will have personal development plans and opportunities for career development;

The E and T Department will encourage feedback and performance measurement, supported by appraisals, annual reviews and staff surveys.; and

Will introduce a ‘talent management strategy’ as a comprehensive ‘recruitment to retirement’ programme to support, develop and manage its staff.

The reasons for promoting diversity within the workforce are:

To contribute to a fairer society,

Improve the quality of staff by reaching untapped pools of talent; and

To increase taxpayer confidence in a workforce that reflects the clients that it provides services for.

Diversity is often thought of as being to do with ethnicity and gender but it is wider than that and is about how any groups with differences to the ‘norm’ are treated in employment practices and in the workplace. It is about ensuring that all differences are taken account of - examples include education, culture, gender, language, socio-economic backgrounds, religion and sexuality, as well as ethnicity.

Ethnicity is certainly one of the most important types of diversity, both because of how closely people identify themselves with their ethnic origin and because of the large disparities in areas such as education and employment between different ethnicities.

A policy of encouraging diversity in the workplace will, therefore, incorporate the above differences.



SECTION SIX

DEVELOPING THE PROPERTY TAX POLICY

6.1 Introduction

The tax base in many countries has been severely eroded by legal tax avoidance and illegal tax evasion brought about by largely poor administration.

This erosion is thought to have a variety of effects –

Tax revenues are lost,

The growth in the tax base is dampened,

The progressivity implied by the statutory rate structure is not achieved,

The costs of administration are increased,

Horizontal and vertical equity suffer because the effective tax rate faced by individuals is higher than it would be if collection were maximised.

It is not surprising, therefore, that in many countries virtually all fiscal reform programs start with the concept of improving administration. Better administration is a discretionary government action that at once can lower the tax rate; increase revenues, and improve the fairness of the system.

This has been the position in the Province – the Departments are seen as inefficient in their tax collection and the Provincial Government has, historically, placed more emphasis on tax administration i.e. the efficient collection of revenue rather than the development of tax reform policies.

The inefficiencies in the tax base and collection levels were identified in the gap analysis and the development of new organisational structures, the development of targeted staff training and the implementation of a new core billing and collection system (ETAC) together with links to a GIS system currently under development will improve efficiency and hence collection levels. In addition, there are elements of the tax base that need to be addressed as indicated in the following paragraphs if the tax base is to be widened.

If the legislation were widened to the whole of the Punjab then, theoretically, all properties would be subject to property tax. It is estimated that the Punjab has a population of some 88 million with an average household size of 8 persons this leaves potentially the possibility of some 11 million taxable properties.

In practical terms, however, it is recognised that because of socio-economic factors it would not be practical or desirable to include all of those properties in the tax net. Allowing for low quality, smaller properties and the various exemptions it is estimated that the present tax base could be widened from 1.2 million properties to 3 to 5 million properties.



6.2 Fiscal incentives, revenue equalisation and local accountability

Several problems of UIPT administration originate from the poorly designed inter-governmental transfer system. There are three main issues:

Sub-provincial governments have limited incentives for increasing property tax revenues;

The revenue sharing mechanism does not take into account the local property tax raising capacity, and

The basic mechanisms of local accountability are missing. Future reform of intergovernmental finances in Punjab should deal with these problems.

The present reallocation of UIPT among City/TMA budgets is based on population numbers. This obviously does not reflect the size of local tax base and the tax collection effort. So this reallocation technique has to be supplemented by other, statistically measured objective indicators of UIPT base. The direction of possible reforms is to move towards a combination of measurable indicators, which are correlated with the local property tax base. The size of UIPT base is closely related to the area of City/TMA, population number, the services provided, the housing stock, etc. Over a five-year period the present population based allocation of UIPT might be gradually replaced by the objective indicator based method.

The other option for reforming the local finances is to build the UIPT into the intergovernmental grant scheme. Presently the transfers are allocated by the Provincial Finance Commission are mostly negotiation based and do not take into account the property tax revenues or the local revenue raising capacity. Without changing the entire system of intergovernmental transfers, one option would be a simple matching grant, when a Rupee as a Provincial grant would be added to every collected Rupee of UIPT. This grant would supplement by a pre-defined ratio of UIPT collected on the territory of the local government.

There is no effective equalisation scheme of local government revenues. The simplest technique would be to equalize the differences in per capita UIPT revenues up to a set percentage of the average per capita UIPT revenue. In a more sophisticated model of revenue equalisation - if proxies of the property tax base are available - the equalization mechanism might be built upon the standard (average) tax effort (using average tax rate).

The basic mechanism of local accountability does not work in Punjab. There is weak relationship on one hand between the services provided and UIPT policy decisions, tax collection efforts on the other. For improving the accountability of the elected sub-provincial governments their powers in defining the actual UIPT yield should be increased. There are two basic options:

Increasing the local rate setting autonomy with nationally defined minimum and maximum rates for Districts and TMAs;

Decentralizing some competencies in specifying UIPT reliefs within nationally set limits. Both proposals have to be further elaborated and tested.



6.3 The Tax Base

The diagnostic report identified a number of areas where the tax base could be improved including where newly urbanised areas are not declared as urban areas, so the properties are simply not taxed. In order to adjust the rating areas and tax zones to the boundaries of the newly developed subdivisions local governments either have to be motivated in raising UIPT or their autonomy in declaring rating areas should be limited. This latter option might be implemented in two ways:

i. Rules of demarcating the boundaries of the urban areas should be set externally. For example the E&T Department might be authorised to define the rating areas by using criteria set by law. These objective indicators of an urbanised area should be statistically measurable, like quality of housing, ratio of built in areas, access to infrastructure services, etc.

ii. Introducing national regulations on compulsory demarcation of urban areas for local governments. That follows a similar logic: those zones of a city become rating areas, where the objective characteristics of urbanisation reach a nationally set minimum. These standards might be differentiated by population size and location of the local government.

As stated above and within the context of the current UIPT legislation the tax base can be widened to incorporate those areas that are urban in nature but still classified as rural or not declared as rating areas by resolution of the TMA’s. This can be done without any legislative changes.

6.4 Revaluation of Property

The valuation tables provide a basic categorisation of land and buildings between residential, commercial and industrial property and they are the basis of the tax base The valuation tables are outdated - there has been no reassessment of property since 2001 and the initial tables were set at below rental market values and have continued to fall behind because of inflationary pressures in the property market.

Since commencing this report approval has been given for a revaluation to take place with effect from 1st January 2010. Given the period between valuations consideration should be given to indexation of either the basic valuations between revaluations or to the tax rate in order to preserve the value of the tax collections.

6.5 Exemptions and Reliefs

The diagnostic report and previous World Bank reports have identified a high level of

reliefs and exemptions1 leading to the conclusion that there is significant revenue

potential in the present property tax system by reforming the exemptions and reliefs.

There are a large number of reductions, reliefs and exemptions and in theory they are targeted to take account of social policy considerations and to make the tax burden more progressive, however, in reality this is not the case as

1 World Bank 2008



some have been included as a result of political decisions and which favour the more wealthy taxpayers, e.g. the declining UIPT rate for larger industrial units or the 5 Marla exemption for all types of residential property.

The cost of the exemptions and reliefs is estimated at some Rs. 700m2 and this estimate is on the conservative side.

It is recommended that the exemptions and reliefs be reviewed

6.6 Differential Rating

In addition to the exemptions a relief is allowed to owner-occupiers of both residential and commercial properties in the form of a lower rate than that charged to the owners of rented properties. The cost of this relief amounts to some RS.2bn per year3.

It is recommended that the differential be phased out over a period of years.

6.7 Quality of Property Tax Records

The system of assessment is manual and the property tax records are held in a series of manual registers and there is little or no quality control or internal control in place to ensure that all data is recorded accurately.

It is considered that the quality of the basic data held on individual properties is poor and this is giving rise to concern as the data is transferred in to a computerised form. There is no cooperation with other departments for improving the register and the information on taxable property.

The development of a new organisational structure based on functional lines together with greater emphasis on internal control will improve the quality of records.

6.7 Efficiency in Tax Collection

By international standards collection levels are low and it is widely recognised that efficiency in the tax collection process is low and this is reflected in low collection levels and an increasing level of arrears. The reasons for this are varied and relate to an accumulation of the issues identified in the gap analysis.

The development of a new organisational structure based on functional lines together with a programme of training and a computer system will help to improve collection performance.

6.8 Enforcement of Property Tax

Beyond the sending of a reminder after payment is due little enforcement action is taken leading to an increasing level of arrears year on year. The system is manual and relies on inspectors undertaking the enforcement process.

2 PRMP Mid-Term Report – May 2009

3 PRMP Mid-Term Report – May 2009



It is essential that a structured enforcement programme is developed and consistently applied using the powers available in the UIPT Act 1958.

6.9 Performance Management and Quality Control

The gap analysis identified that there is little or no consistent and routine measurement of performance either at a departmental level or at an individual staff level. There is no performance management framework to enable the department’s managers to compare previous performance and, where relevant, in comparison to other organisations. As there is no performance management framework almost by definition there is little quality control exercised.

It is recommended a performance management framework is developed.



SECTION SEVEN TECHNOLOGY

TECHNOLOGY - SOFTWARE

7.1 The ETAC System

The current Excise and Taxation Appraisal and Collection (ETAC) application that has been developed provides an electronic version of the manual taxation system and has many of the basic components that a property tax system should have: -

A Billing system linked to the valuation tables;

An enforcement / recovery system;

Integration with the available GIS system.

The current system will benefit from the following additions: -

A built-in help system/training mode;

o Providing context sensitive help to users relating to the screen or field they are looking at;

Links to a complaints handling system;

o Allowing customers complaints to be linked to their property and the history of the correspondence made available to a member of staff to allow them to review, progress and when appropriate close the complaint;

A comprehensive auditing function;

o This will allow all changes made to the records held to be fully audited providing a complete history of individual records / transactions and who has dealt with them.

A comprehensive property assessment module;

o To allow the periodic appraisal of properties and then entry of that and related information.

Management of exemptions, reliefs and allowances;

Access to relevant and current legislation;

An automated payments processing / collection system; incorporating electronic payments made by money transfer or cash handling as well as an electronic payment/information exchange with the banks;

End of year / beginning of year processing tasks;

Electronic internal check;

Integration with a document management system to allow access to the historical records and all correspondence received by the department.

Integration with an electronic working practices / procedures module;

Interoperability with other systems / applications (e.g. Microsoft Office, SharePoint);



Links to the banks and court systems;

User defined reporting / MIS facilities; incorporating a financial management information system that allows forecasting and budgeting and a separate management information system that displays various dashboards providing information about the ETAC system data.

Considering that there are several key aims for the computerisation of the property tax system that include: -

Implementing existing and new legislation accurately and rapidly.

Improving staff productivity.

Improving the time taken to make assessments and process claims.

Increasing the amount of management information available to allow informed decisions to be made.

Increasing revenue collection rates.

Reducing administration costs, and

Reducing fraud.

It is important to ensure that the ETAC system evolves in a controlled manner and that the missing components are developed and integrated into the existing system.

The property tax system must provide up to date and easily accessible information; Coping with private individuals, small businesses and large companies / organisations and this will mean that taxpayer management is key to the success of the system.

It is understood that some additional functionality is now being added to the ETAC system as part of ongoing consultations between Acrologix (the ETAC software supplier) and the Excise & Taxation Department.

It is recommended that

The relevant staff from the Department be provided with the opportunity to see computer systems in other countries that have more developed property tax systems so that they have international comparators when further developing the system.

A project is initiated to capture the requirements for the additional functionality outlined above on a modular basis and that the development of the modules is prioritised appropriately.

Along with the development of additional modules for the ETAC system, there is a need to ensure that sufficient consideration given to the maintenance and support requirements and costs along with the training requirements that users will need given the increased complexity of the system.

A separate team is set up to deal with document management and in particular the task of scanning the documents and maintaining the library (see section 7.4 for further details). This particular recommendation could



be achieved in conjunction with other departments within the government and make use of existing systems and infrastructure.

Mobile access to the system, to allow officers out in their districts to capture information remotely and either update the ETAC system over the air (using mobile communications) or by a batch update when they return to the office (when they plug in their data capture device to a docking station and the information is automatically uploaded). This will speed up the data capture process and reduce errors introduced when re-keying the information.

Given the unique nature of the Punjab, the current property tax system and the recommended reforms; it is believed that with a properly project managed approach to the requirements capture and development programme and a good understanding of what is required to bring the system up to international standards; a continuance of the bespoke development of the existing IT systems within the department is the best way forward in preference to buying in a system from outside Pakistan and attempting to amend existing and provide new functionality.

7.2 GIS System

The Urban Unit, Planning and Development Department of the Punjab Government have developed their own GIS application called IRIS. This system is to be used for a number of different applications including: -

Electricity

Water and sewage

Properties

It is noted that at the time of our initial fact-finding mission, that the imagery within the system was from 2006 and, therefore, out of date. It is recommended that the Punjab Government budget for updating the satellite imagery once every two years to keep the images used within the GIS system reasonably up to date.

In addition to updated satellite imagery, it is recommended that a programme of augmenting this with three-dimensional imaging that will aid any future aided valuation systems (where the size of the majority of properties can be determined remotely and used along with calculation tables to provide a rateable value).

It is recommended that a project is initiated to determine the appropriate method of capturing this information (e.g. Light Detection And Ranging – LiDAR. Please see the glossary for a description).

A project to capture images of all properties within Lahore was undertaken at the inception of the GIS development and those images have been integrated with the GIS and ETAC systems to provide a secondary visual check (primary visual check being the original inspection) that allows the Excise & Taxation department to cross reference to each building.



The officers responsible for each circle to provide updated pictures for every property that undergoes an alteration or a change of use that affects the value.

It is recommended that a separate project is undertaken every five years to repeat the exercise by an independent means (could be oblique photography). This will ensure the accuracy of the images taken against the records held.

Along with ensuring the continued updating of the information held within the GIS system, it is recommended that a method of providing historic satellite imagery via the application is implemented. Using Google Earth as an example, it is possible to use a slider to change the satellite imagery to display the appropriate imagery for the selected year. This will help give a quick visual indication as to the changes made in properties and provide another cross check to ensure that the other information stored within the ETAC system is accurate.

It is recommended that an overlay is made available to the users of the ETAC system that provides a colour-based classification of properties. The colour coding will give a visual representation as to the use of the building (i.e. Business, Private, Mosque, Charity etc) and allow the classification of areas as being industrial or for other use. This may allow further applications to be developed based on zones (such as planning permission).

In relation to the interaction between the ETAC and GIS systems; it is essential that a consistent approach to coding properties (i.e. providing a unique referencing methodology) across the Punjab is adopted. Currently properties in two adjacent circles may have distinct coding styles (e.g. C-12345 and 9132AQ). The adoption of a common coding approach will ensure that new properties added to the database can be done automatically and that meaningful management information can be extracted from the database.

It is recognised that cost and technical issues may be a significant factor in the further development of the GIS system, especially considering that it will be used to help administer the whole of the Punjab. It would therefore be sensible to take a phased approach to the additional development concentrating on ensuring that the most densely populated areas are dealt with initially and subsequently the outlying areas. It is however, very important to ensure that the whole of the Punjab have updates to the system applied on a regular basis (e.g. that imagery is renewed on a regular and planned basis).

7.3 Mass Appraisal System

Mass appraisal can have different connotations, but has been defined by legislation in Alberta, Canada as being “the process of preparing assessments for a group of properties, as of a given date, using standard methods, common data and allowing for statistical testing” (McClung, 2000).

Many countries have moved from discrete single property valuation, whereby each property is inspected and valued individually, to an automated valuation model (AVM).



While single parcel appraisals are credited for producing accurate valuations, they are manpower, cost and time intensive and often result in out-of-date and incomplete valuation rolls.

Automated valuation models require the development of robust regression models that can be utilised to estimate value given inputs for the various property-specific and neighbourhood characteristics. The application of AVMs requires a good understanding of econometric modeling and the ability to cope with misspecifications of the regression model.

There are now a large number of countries that have adopted mass valuation techniques and, these include the United States, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, Chile, Indonesia, Estonia, and United Kingdom.

The ETAC system does not have the facility to undertake mass appraisal and it is recommended that staff from the E&T Department undertake a study tour to the United Kingdom to have the opportunity of appraising the largest mass appraisal exercise that has been undertaken (in Northern Ireland) and to review how a dedicated valuation service operates in practice.

7.4 Document Management System

Document management (content management is a similar term and commonly used to describe document management) is the control of documents and/or images of documents through their lifecycle; including how and when documents are captured, tagged (adding metadata, which is information about the documents to allow that document to be accessed by a user), made available, backed up and deleted.

Essentially a document management system makes paper based documents available to users in an electronic format – be that in an editable format (e.g. Microsoft Word document) or a non-editable format (e.g. a picture or PDF).

A well-designed document management system will be capable of supporting rigid workflows that provide for capture of the documents, retention, use and deletion. It will also allow an ad-hoc approach to document capture and use. In addition, the implemented system will tightly integrate with both an organisation’s existing document types and its systems.

A document management system will also have a mechanism for controlling who can gain access to the individual documents; controlling aspects such as who can read, edit and delete them. In addition, it will control how that document can be shared (e.g. can it be emailed). The system should also integrate into existing systems such as Microsoft Office and be capable of integrating into other common interfaces – such as web browsers and email applications.

When assessing a document management system (DMS), the following points are to be considered: -

The software has to be easy to use.

Does the system fit in with an organisation’s existing work practices? Or does a system require new methods of working and impact on existing systems.



Is the DMS available for your systems (e.g. Microsoft Windows or Linux) and does it integrate into your applications software (e.g. Microsoft Office, email system, web browsers, SharePoint etc.).

Is the DMS available in a suitable format i.e. an application on your network or over the internet as Software as a Service.

Does the DMS provide sufficient control and security that your organisation requires? Are the documents held in an encrypted repository or are they held in an open, non-secure format?

What hardware does the DMS support for capturing documents? Does it allow for high volume, automated capture and small single page documents?

Do you require a rigid document workflow; a more flexible method; or a combination of both? In reality, most organisations will need a rigid workflow for the initial capture of documents, but will migrate to a more flexible approach for day-to-day operations.

Does the DMS allow for full auditing of a document’s lifecycle?

Does the DMS have built in version control; allowing the user to go back to previous versions of the document (i.e. before changes were made to the document).

With document management being a long-term commitment; will the application provider be around for the whole of the expected lifetime of the system. What protection can be provided? For example is the source code available? Is the company willing to use an escrow service? Are you tied into proprietary software and file formats or is there a migration path available to other products?

Can remote users access the documents over a Virtual Private Network (VPN) or other technology?

What facilities are provided by the DMS for backing up the document repository?

One consideration that has to be made is what happens to the documents that have been scanned. It is recommended that the documents are cleaned and restored as much as is possible before the scanning process to reduce the amount of post scan processing that is required. Once they have been scanned, it is recommended that the documents are stored in a centralised library in controlled conditions so that they are available for future use.

We propose that the Excise and Taxation department acquires a dedicated document management system to be implemented and made available to all the offices around the Punjab Province.

A project needs to be initiated to catalogue all the historic data stored in paper based registers in the various offices around the Province and for those historic records to be brought to a centralised location; prepared for scanning; scanned and stored within the system. These documents then need to be put into a centralised library in a controlled environment (i.e. temperature and humidity) so that they may be referred back to at a future date.



7.5 Data Structure

The following diagram indicates how the various systems will fit together –

Property Tax

Database

(incl. Finance)

Geographic

Information

System

Property

Image

Database

CAMA

Database

Geographic Information System

Separate application that has a number of

systems interfacing with it, including the

property tax system

Assessment

Property identification and

Assessment system.

Enforcement Compliance

Case management system that allows

coherent tracking of customers who do

not pay. This system will ensure that

each case is followed up.

Billing and Collection

Incorporating electronic payments

made by money transfer or cash

handling as well as an electronic

payment/information exchange

with the banks.

MIS

Real time view of ETAC data

providing a series of dashboards

and allowing user defined reporting.

Financial MIS

Real time view of financial

data allowing analysis of current

situation and the ability to provide

realistic forecasts.

Document

Management

System

Document Management System

Separate system providing access

to electronic copies of documents

within the E&T department.

Complaints Handling

The ability to track complaints and

other correspondence from tax

payers and progress the complaint

until resolution.

‘Virtual’ ETAC System

Fig 4: Data Structure

7.6 IT Applications Development Policy

In order to minimize the proliferation of the number of different applications using various technologies being developed by or on behalf of the Excise & Taxation department; the Punjab Government must develop a common approach.

This approach will specify the development platform for those systems. This specification can be at a fairly high level, but would necessarily state which core technologies will be used (e.g. a single database platform – MS SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL).

For bespoke systems, these standards must be adhered to. For off the shelf applications, this cannot be a driving factor – whereas functionality will be. Where two packages are functionally matched…the one that is more aligned to the standard would be adopted.



The knock on effect of adopting this approach will be to reduce the support requirement and the requisite skill base. This policy is particularly important to ensure that a Departmental ICT Support Unit follows the policies of the Provincial Government.

TECHNOLOGY – OTHER

7.7 Intranet

An integral part of medium to large organisations in the public and the private sector is the organisational intranet. It provides a centralised resource for staff to gain access to various key systems, departmental information, training, reference material, procedure manuals, support and standard templates.

It is recommended that the Excise & Taxation department implement an Intranet and slowly build up the resources available on it. The intranet front page will be the homepage for every member of staff who start their web browser. It will also allow staff to quickly start the ETAC or GIS systems from the home page. There will also be a notification area that will inform users of any important messages that need to be sent out to staff.

The user will also be able to gain access to a training area that provides self-paced online training. This training will be developed in conjunction with the Excise & Taxation department and/or professional organisations and will allow the user to progress a number of relevant training modules. They will be able to go through the training and pick up where they last looked at. They will also be able to go through a number of related question modules to determine if they have picked up a sufficient understanding of the subject.

A sub-site will provide access to all relevant legislation. This will allow staff to look up and verify that the way in which they are dealing with a particular issue complies with the law.

It is recommended that, where possible, the information published onto the Intranet is devolved down to the individual departments and offices. To this end it would prudent to set up a set of standard templates for the look and feel of the Intranet and deploy these. Microsoft SharePoint or a similar product could be deployed to help standardise the Intranet and all users could access shared workspaces, information stores, documents, and applications such as blogs. Users will also be able to manipulate web parts (that are either provided as standard or deployed by the business) or interact with content such as lists and document libraries.

7.8 Internet

A separate project needs to look at the requirements for providing an internet presence. There should be a public area available as the core part of the website that provides a clean and consistent interface. The website must be available in both Urdu and English and provide facilities for people with disabilities to enable them to navigate through the site.

It is unclear as to the percentage of members of the public that have high speed access (two Megabits per second and above) to the internet; however it is expected that the numbers in the major cities and larger towns will be



relatively low in comparison to other countries and the numbers outside of the major conurbations will be very small. Any web presence will have to take into account the average speeds available to the users of the site.

The website must allow quick and easy transit to the relevant sections that the user wants to go to and as such a three click rule must be applied (it will take no more than three clicks\selections from the website homepage to get to the information that the user is looking for). All relevant forms and information will be made available for download and where applicable, application forms and requests for contact will be possible from the site along with the ability for taxpayers to make electronic payments in due course.

It is important that non-essential information is not presented (unless required by law) – such as network diagrams and details of the connection between departmental buildings as these have little meaning to taxpayers and may provide substantial information to hackers.

7.9 Domain name and Email registration

It is important the internet becomes a more integral part of the running of the Department; as it could become the first or second point of access for taxpayers and a key means of communication within the Department particularly because of the dispersed management structure. In implementing an email strategy the Department is recommended to consider the following issues that need to be addressed -

An appropriate domain name must be selected, for the Department. This domain name must be relevant to purpose and as simple as is possible.

Once an appropriate domain name has been chosen, it is recommended that all relevant variations on that domain name are registered as well. This will mean that if a customer mistypes your World Wide Web address, they will still gain access to your main site. It is also recommended that commonly used variations on the top level domain (i.e. ‘.com’, ‘.org’, ‘.pk’) are also registered.

All sub-sites should be connected to the main domain name.

Emails must be based on or reflect the company presence name.

By ensuring that the Department has a consistent Internet naming policy and that emails also follow that naming convention; a taxpayer / customer will be more confident about using the website or communicating via email with the Department. It also gives a sense of a basic level of professionalism.

It is essential to note that both users and customers, even though they are certain of who they are communicating with, are not encouraged to send sensitive information to and from a website or via email without some form of encryption being used.

All emails sent from the E&T Department must contain a standard footer with an appropriate disclaimer for the department and the country (i.e. meaning that it must comply with any local laws and regulations). An example clause is: -



‘This email is intended for use of the person identified in the body of the email. The contents of the email are confidential and if it has been sent to the wrong person, please do not read the email, delete the email immediately and notify the sender.’

TECHNOLOGY – HARDWARE

7.10 Computerisation

The gap analysis identified that little in the way of computer hardware was available to E&T staff and it is recommended an assessment is made of the numbers required to put one computer on the desk of every “relevant” member of staff for the roll out of the ETAC system.

A “relevant” member of staff can be defined as every staff member that deals directly or indirectly with members of the public or supports a member of staff who does; and will need access to one or more of the applications either deployed or in the process of deployment within the department.

Where a member of staff does not interact directly or indirectly with the general public, but performs some other purpose within the organisation; there must be a team computer made available in a dedicated and established workstation environment (i.e. desk, chair etc) and they must have their own login and password to access certain key departmental systems including the Intranet and the their specific email account.

7.11 Infrastructure

All offices have a requirement for a reliable power supply and as such a continued programme of installation, maintenance and upgrading is needed with regards to the supply of a generator with the appropriate capacity and maintenance contract.

In addition to the generator, an Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) is required to ensure that the computer system and network continue to run whilst the power supply is switched over from the main grid to the generator. It is essential that the UPS is tested on a regular basis to ensure that is it is operating correctly and will allow a power failure to occur without disruption to the computer systems and users.

The power supply cabling in and around the district office that we visited appeared to be chaotic and potentially prone to failure due to the manner in which it has been installed. It is recommended that the Punjab Government work with the local energy companies to identify where there are issues with the power supply substations and cabling and look to resolve those issues by replacing cabling, junction boxes or upgrading substations.

Any programme to improve the supply of electricity to the offices, will also have to look at the cabling within the offices to ensure that it is safely and securely installed and if not, ensure that the appropriate corrective action is undertaken.



7.12 Networking and Communications

It is recommended that the programme to provide Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL) to certain offices as part of other programmes will be extended to all Excise & Taxation offices [where available]. The maximum data speed available in any particular area must be installed (this would appear to be around 512 kilobits per second to 1 Megabits per second). An annual assessment will be undertaken to ensure that as the exchanges are upgraded, the increased speeds made available are taken advantage of.

Where DSL is not available or impractical alternative communication links will be installed. The main alternative to installing DSL is VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal), which is a satellite communications system that is available to home, and businesses.

Depending on the supplier, VSAT can offer speeds similar to DSL. The use of dial up communications is only recommended where either DSL or VSAT costs are prohibitive or it is impossible to install.

Each office will have a local area network installed that will connect all computers at that location together. A server located in the office will provide the applications available to that site and access to the internet and email will be provided through a proxy server located on that server. The Excise & Taxation support team will centrally administer the server.

7.13 Minimum System Specification Document

It is important to ensure that the computer equipment and peripherals purchased by the department maintain a minimum specification to allow them to be capable of running the applications deployed within the business.

A baseline specification document is required, detailing the minimum requirements of the applications in use within the business. This document must be updated each year. Even though it may be referred to as a ‘minimum specification’ it should not be considered a definitive requirement for all computers and peripherals purchased at any given point. There must be consideration given to the life of the item purchased (for example a computer may be deployed for between three and five years and is expected to be capable of running the applications in use within the department during that time. A server will have a life expectancy of around three years before being considered for replacement).

This document specifies a baseline for the equipment to be purchased and allows for a centralised purchasing policy to be adopted and deals negotiated with the relevant hardware/software suppliers. (i.e. a centralised procurement programme)

7.14 Historical Data

There was an indication that the historical registers retained by the districts would be, over time subject to data input. This is not necessary. The registers should be put through a document scanning process and then archived in a secure location. The centralised library can be referenced when there is any question about the validity of the scanned document.



It is recognised that the condition of the registers are extremely variable and depend on how they have been stored over the course of their lives. This will make scanning the individual pages in, so that they provide a readable document on screen, difficult. However, this process is one essential task that is required.



SECTION EIGHT

CORE ADMINISTRATION

8.1 Administration

With the fundamental reorganisation of the department and introduction of new business methods along with the implementation of new computer systems, it is important that the supporting administration processes are geared up to supporting them.

The introduction of what is in effect a computer on the desk of every member of staff, and the increased use of computers to enable them to do their jobs; means it is important to ensure that they are productive from the first day on the job.

There will be a need to determine what equipment, software, network access and where and when they are required by an individual. If an appropriate computer is not being used [the asset register will determine this], then it can be re-assigned.

8.2 Adoption of Data Protection Principles

The migration from a paper based to a computer based taxation system will lead over time to more information being collected, stored and more easily and widely accessed by the Punjab government, staff and ultimately customers. To build a level of confidence that the information is not being misused, it is important to put in place certain rules on how this information is gathered, used and accessed.

Many countries that have gone/are going through the process of changing from a manual based to a partial or wholly computerised system recognise the importance of putting in place guidelines and regulations to ensure that the collection and use of data both in government departments and private companies is controlled.

Whilst it is appreciated that getting legislation put in place within the Punjab Government is not a primary goal of this project, we suggest that a more realistic approach is to adopt an appropriate policy within the relevant governmental departments.

A series of common principles can be derived by looking at examples of legislation commonly available around the world that provide core principles relating to the use and protection of personal data.

These principles can be summarised as: -

1. Personal data shall be processed fairly and lawfully.

2. Personal data shall be obtained only for one or more specified and lawful purposes, and shall not be further processed in any manner incompatible with that purpose or those purposes.

3. Personal data shall be adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purpose or purposes for which they are processed.



4. Personal data shall be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date.

5. Personal data processed for any purpose or purposes shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes.

6. Personal data shall be processed in accordance with the rights of data subjects.

7. Appropriate technical and organisational measures shall be taken against unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, personal data.

8. Personal data shall not be transferred to a country or territory outside of Pakistan unless that country or territory ensures an adequate level of protection for the rights and freedoms of data subjects in relation to the processing of personal data.

Where the use of personal data breaches the above principles, the data subject will have the right to look at the data and where appropriate have it amended or deleted.

A policy that reflects all eight principles outlined above, should be implemented within the Punjab Government and applied vertically to all governmental bodies and emanations of the state. This will ensure a level of consistency throughout the organisation.

8.3 Application of International Standards

ISO 27001/ISO 27002/ISO 9001

In conjunction with the data protection principles; it is essential that a common set of practices are adopted in relation to information handling and security. The International Standards Organisation has a number of established standards that can be implemented partly or wholly within the Punjab Government: -

ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems - Requirements

ISO 27001 Information technology - Security techniques - Information security management systems—Requirements

ISO 27002 Information technology - Security techniques - Code of practice for information security management.

These standards cover a wide range of information technology concerns – from physical security (e.g. physical access to the office, computer systems and backups); data and computer security to issues relating to the movement of data off site and disposal of material (e.g. shredding printouts).

As an example, ISO 27002 provides a checklist of best practice recommendations on information security management for individuals / organisations who are responsible for initiating, implementing or maintaining information security management systems.

This standard considers three areas: -

1. The preservation of confidentiality - ensuring that information is accessible only to those authorised to have access;



2. Integrity - safeguarding the accuracy and completeness of information and processing methods; and

3. Availability - ensuring that authorised users have access to information and associated assets when required.

And as such, it contains the following twelve main sections to act as a checklist against which the organisation is measured (where appropriate): -

1. Risk assessment

2. Security Policy – management direction

3. Organisation of information security – governance of information security

4. Asset management – inventory and classification of information assets

5. Human resources security - security aspects for employees joining, moving and leaving and organisation.

6. Physical and environmental security – protection of the computer facilities

7. Communication and operations management – management of technical security controls in systems and networks.

8. Access control – restriction of access rights to networks, systems, applications, functions and data.

9. Information systems acquisition, development and maintenance – building security into applications.

10. Information security incident management – anticipating and responding appropriately to information security breaches.

11. Business continuity management - protecting, maintaining and recovering business-critical processes and systems.

12. Compliance – ensuring conformance with information security policies, standards, laws and regulations.

It is recommended that the Punjab Government implements a minimum of the standards listed above and adheres to the processes put in place as a result for the day-to-day running of the E&T Department.

8.4 Acceptable Use Policies

It is recommended that the E&T Department implements clear policies on how an employee is meant to behave and represent them. There must also be policies in place that define how they use Departmental information, services and equipment. These policies must clearly layout what is expected of that employee and the consequences of breaching an individual policy.

Email

With the change in the manner (i.e. shift from paper to electronic); increased ease; and subsequent increase in the amount of day to day communications that both businesses and individuals use; it becomes extremely important to make staff aware that email is an official document and may be the public



face of the Department. It is essential, therefore, to train the users appropriately and regulate email usage.

It is also important that staff are aware that what is often thought as an informal mode of communication is actually as official as any letter sent out. An appropriate email policy needs to be defined and adopted. An example document is in Appendix B.

Internet / Intranet

With a business case for allowing users to access to the Intranet and Internet, there has to be clear guidelines on the usage of them. This will incorporate acceptable hours of use and details of what can be posted on them, sites accessed and how. An example document is in Appendix C.

8.5 Audit of Hardware and software

It is recommended that centralised electronic register of all equipment is maintained and kept up to date. Performing regular audits is essential and a replacement programme for hardware and software can be adopted to ensure that equipment is kept up to date, relevant and fit for purpose.

All equipment must be vetted by the IT department for safety and ensure that it is fit for purpose. All equipment must be clearly tagged with departmental markings; in addition serial numbers for all pieces of equipment shall be held (PC’s, monitors, printers) together with the specification of each piece of equipment (memory and hard disk capacities).

8.6 Backups

With the increased use of IT systems within the Excise and Taxation department the amount of data that will be required in those systems will increase in what appears to be an exponential manner. The data that will be stored on the systems will include text-based documents that will not have a large footprint; the data stored in databases such as the ETAC and GIS systems; scanned documents and pictures.

It is essential that a policy is established and made clear to all members of staff that specifies that no data will be stored on the local hard drive of the individual machines provided to a member of staff. Instead, there will be a network drive (or a series of network drives) with a defined structure onto which data can be saved.

The IT department will be responsible for a defined backup policy that lists what drives / locations they are responsible for backing up. This document will also describe the frequency of back-ups and onto what type of media the data is backed up.

An example backup policy will state that there will be an individual daily backup made, allowing data for a rolling seven-day period to be retrieved. There is a weekly backup made on a four or five week rolling basis. There will also be a monthly backup made to allow data to be retrieved for each month on a rolling 12-month basis. The backups will be made on tape and stored off-site in a secure, controlled environment and in a fireproof location.



All tapes will be required to undergo a validation process to ensure that the data can be read back from it and that it hasn’t reached its recommended total number of writes.

All critical servers will be built around a RAID 5 array - (striped disks with parity) combines three or more disks in a way that protects data against the failure of any one disk. The health of the drives will be monitored by the IT department on a daily basis and spare drives will be kept to replace any failed drives or those that are indicated by the system software as at risk of failing or unhealthy.

It is recommended that the Excise & Taxation department implement a Storage Area Network (SAN) which is an architecture to attach remote computer storage devices to servers in such a way that the devices appear as locally attached drives to the operating system and user.

Local legislation that specifies a set period of time that data has to be kept will also need reflecting in the backup policy.

All backups are to be run out of main business hours so as to not impact on daily schedule. If a user stores data on their local PC, they have to be made aware that it is not to be business critical information and that they will be responsible for backing up that data.

Where data is stored at remote locations and it is not possible to store the information centrally – the departmental backup policy will be applied to that location and a designated individual with sufficient IT training will be made responsible for implementing it.

8.7 Disaster Recovery

Along with a defined back up policy, it is important to create and maintain a disaster recovery policy. This policy must be a comprehensive document that provides sufficient detail that in the event of some form of major problem that would disrupt the running of a part or the whole of the business; it will provide a clearly defined set of steps to allow the rapid deployment of an interim service that minimises the downtime of the business.

An example of an event that causes such disruption may be a fire at one location that means the building is not usable for one or more days.

The disaster recovery document will contain the following: -

Business and out of hour contact details for the key personnel.

A contact tree that will allow information to be disseminated to all staff quickly by a number of people.

Details of each location that makes up the business and the services provided at that location.

An alternative location for that part of the business (or a series of steps that need to be taken to obtain new temporary premises).

Details of the key personnel that are required to attend work after the incident has occurred and where they should go.



Details of the infrastructure required to be put in place (or that exists at a location) that the key personnel will require to attempt to provide either a reduced service or business as usual. This will include details of computer requirements, networking, software and telephone lines as well as business contact lists and other business information.

A list of which internal departments and personnel who will be required to support the setting up of the temporary location.

A list of key (or contractual) requirements that need to be met and the schedule.

An inventory of all equipment and software at the site that has had the incident.

A list of internal departments and personnel, suppliers and insurers that need to be contacted to start the process of putting the site that has had the incident back to a working state.

A list of the service level agreements that are in place (both for the business to meet and for suppliers).

This list is not meant to be exhaustive, however, an analysis of the whole department needs to be made and written on a location-to-location basis. One individual will be designated as the owner of the disaster recovery plan for each site. At a regular period of time, all those owners will review the plans and any changes in the services, locations, personnel etc. will need reflecting in the document.

8.8 Green / Recycling / Disposal Policy

With the increased use of computer equipment and the increasing emphasis on “Green Policies” within the Punjab Government there needs to be a policy relating to recycling and ‘green’ issues.

Obtaining industry figures for the expected life of various pieces of equipment is difficult, in that manufacturers are reticent to produce that information as it may give a commercial edge to their competitors. Instead, the components are rated with figures relating to the mean time before failure. These figures can only act as an indication as they were in some cases extrapolated from tests or achieved in laboratory conditions.

Anecdotal evidence from the industry and experience has provided the following averages for the lifetime of certain types of equipment: -

Critical Servers (high use) – 3 years.

Servers (non-critical, low use) – 4 years.

PCs – 4 years.

Printers (High volume) – 1 to 2 years.

Printers (low volume) – 3 to 5 years.

There must be a rolling programme in place to identify equipment that is reaching the end of its life expectancy to allow it to be replaced. When the



equipment is due for replacement and in conjunction with this there must be a policy in place to dispose of that equipment.

This may involve: -

Selling the equipment to a third party.

Giving the equipment to a specialist company for disposal.

Giving the equipment to a charity.

Redeploying working equipment in schools, libraries or other body that may make use of it.

With any disposal policy, be consideration must be given to the data stored on the hard disks of the computers being disposed of and to ensure that they are securely erased so that no one outside of the organisation can retrieve the information. This is particularly the case with the sensitive data will be held within the E&T records.

With the installation of a significant number of computers and supporting equipment users must be encouraged to shut down their computers at the end of the day. In addition, toner cartridges from printers can be (in many cases) returned to the manufacturer for recycling.

8.9 Potential Adoption of Open Source Software

The total cost of ownership within an organisation for an individual computer for a member of staff can be determined as an average figure. Studies have shown that hardware costs remain fairly static year on year. However, software licence costs can change markedly depending on the number of staff requiring a particular application; the cost of the individual licence; and intangible costs such as deployment, training, maintenance and support costs. Multiply this by the number of different applications that are required by an individual, then the cost of ownership can be high.

One potential solution is to investigate the adoption of open source office software to keep implementation costs down. This will need to be considered along with the requirements of the business and the compatibility required with other applications and external document requirements.

It is not envisaged that the intangible costs would be reduced, simply that the up-front costs of individual licences would be reduced dramatically.

There is a risk to be considered regarding the support available from the application publishers, however, this can be mitigated by the fact that a number of open source office systems are considered to be mature products with many years of testing.

8.10 Security Principles

In any business where there are a number of employees who can get access to systems and subsequently important data, there is a requirement to ensure that the highest level of security is maintained.

The network support team will maintain a series of computer policies that define what each individual user can gain access to. This can limit a user to



accessing a particular computer, server, computer disk or even specific directories on that disk.

In most organisations, users are provided with a username and password to allow them to login to a computer system. The password will usually require a minimum length of six or eight characters and may be forced to contain both upper and lower case characters, numbers and/or symbols. This level of security is usually adequate for day to day use.

It is important to enforce a password regime that ensures that it is changed on a regular basis and that the new password is not one of the last ten passwords used.

It is also important to make it clear to users that no unauthorised equipment is to be plugged into their computer or attached to the network. The departmental policy will also state that no equipment is to be moved without the IT department being involved. There will be centralised spam and virus checking on emails received by the department and sent on outgoing emails. This will be augmented by an antivirus application on every system.

In addition, there will be a check on all emails sent through the central mailbox to allow the trapping of emails that contain certain content, trap dangerous attachments, emails of a certain size etc. An example of the type of software required is Mimesweeper for SMTP.

The threat of virus and Trojans being introduced onto the network is ever-present and along with the implementation of a comprehensive virus checker and content checking software there are certain other measures that can be employed to reduce the overall risk. This includes the removal of floppy, CD and DVD drives on machines that don’t need them. It is also advisable to disable USB ports to stop other devices being plugged in.

Along with personal directories made available on the network drive, a public drive will be made available for the exchange of data within the department.

It is important to realise that any output produced from by the department is disposed of in a secure manner. This means that any paper output will be shredded, irrespective of the content.

8.11 Systems Support

All ICT policies must be amended to reflect the increased computerisation of the department. This will include the establishment of a dedicated support mechanism for the Excise & Taxation department. This support function will be contactable, primarily by a dedicated support telephone number, but will augmented by a support email address.

The ICT support team will service the telephone line and all members of the team will have access to the support mailbox. There must be defined hours of operation and service level agreements put in place for the various systems that are being supported – based on the importance or critical nature of that system.



8.12 Transportation of data

It is essential that a policy is outlined that states data is not to be stored on unauthorised media. The personal computers installed on a user’s desk must have their USB ports disabled. It is also recommended that machines do not have floppy disk or CD/DVD drives installed (to reduce the potential for users to either attach pen drives or insert media which may contain a virus or other harmful software).

If there is a requirement to transport business data from one site to another, then the appropriate measures must be taken to ensure that the data is encrypted with a sufficient level of security to defeat all attempts to read it.

Permission must be sought from the appropriate departmental manager or director to allow data to be transported in this manner.

The exception to this rule is the backup tapes that are transported from the centralised servers to an offsite location. However, the tape backups must incorporate encryption as standard…so that in the event that they are lost or stolen, the data on them cannot be read.

8.13 User Group

The setting up of an internal ETAC user group is recommended. This will allow key users (experts) to meet at a defined regular period to discuss the system and to ensure that bugs are identified; that the application is kept up to date and relevant. Changes to be captured through this process are: -

Changes in the law that need reflecting in the applications that are needed to perform an individual task (needs to be identified in a timely manner and will require someone involved with implementing that legislation to be a member of the user group).

User experiences that identify better ways of working.

Issues in the systems that need resolving.

User defined enhancements.

It is essential that representatives of the developers attend the meeting and have a commitment to providing ongoing development support for the system. There also needs to be a commitment to a schedule for release of updates.



SECTION NINE CUSTOMER SERVICES

9.1 Current Customer Services

Customer services are currently delivered through E&T offices in Lahore and 36 District offices that are technically managed by the local governments but little thought has been given to the design of the reception facilities - public access is poor as are customer facilities and of a very low standard by international standards. There are no structured reception facilities and the public are allowed to wander around the buildings until they find the appropriate inspector or his clerk. They are then interviewed at the Inspectors’ workstation.

The Department gives the impression that it is not customer focused.

At the time of writing this report the E&T Department does not have a comprehensive customer strategy so the customer service element of the Blueprint focuses on a discreet customer service facility for the new Property Tax Division. In taking this approach it is recognised that there are other approaches that could be adopted. These are

A joint E&T functional one stop shop (one window) delivering all customer facing services for all taxes

Jointly with BOR land administration offices, or

Jointly with city district governments in large cities

Whilst superficially these appear attractive we believe at this stage it will be a step too far particularly bearing in mind the fragmented nature of information technology services and the complexity and diversity of existing service delivery.

9.2 Customer Focus and Access

The Department will become customer focused and one of the key operating principles of the Property Tax Division will be to deliver its services in a customer focused manner, one that seeks to provide comprehensive support provided through a simple and intuitive multi-channel interface to achieve: -

Customer focused service delivery excellence;

Supporting customers across the full life-cycle, from initial information gathering through to final payment;

Providing service solutions that are adaptive to the needs of customers and stakeholders;

Introducing bilateral customer relationship management to help support the day-to-day management of the service.

The Division will develop a customer access strategy to include –

Development of customer service centres;



Access by electronic means such as the website, digital television (if available) Interactive kiosks, modern telephone system, and text messaging;

Access to information using customer consultation, website, television, newspapers, information leaflets etc.

9.3 Customer Service Design Principles

The following high-level design principles will be embodied in the Division’s approach to delivering customer focussed service delivery excellence.

The Division will develop customer service centres that provide comfortable and welcoming facilities for the customer that will enable the customer to have all enquiries dealt with at the point of service and by appropriately qualified staff.

To avoid confusion as to which number to use for which type of enquiry, the Division will introduce customer specific telephone and e-mail addresses that will allow a more tailored, streamlined and informed approach to meeting customer needs.

The operation will employ an organisational structure that promotes the principles of simplicity and effectiveness. The main roles that will sit within the customer services operation will include; service advisors, team leaders, and the customer service manager.

The new operation will require a programme of bespoke learning and development activities in order to ensure staff have the necessary skills, values and behaviours as well the levels of appropriate staff management consistent with the need to provide a leading practice services operation.

A high quality support infrastructure will be need to be established, one that provides both specialist functional advisors, along with appropriate tools and techniques.

Leading practice performance – a comprehensive set of performance standards will be developed to ensure that the Division consistently provides excellent service to its customers. Metrics will include volume of enquiries and support requests, average response times, average handling times, percentage of enquiries resolved, percentage of enquiries received by e-mail and amount of knowledge made available to customers via the web etc.

The benefits to the customer of establishing a dedicated customer service operation will be tangible in terms of the improved customer “experience”. The table below, sets out some of these tangible improvements that will contribute towards providing an enhanced customer experience along with some of the main enabling attributes and behaviours that will exhibited by the staff.



Customer Experience Enabling Staff

Behaviours & Values

Easy to use Knowledgeable

Simple Supportive

Intuitive Reassuring

Rapid Helpful

Focused Friendly

Reassured Positive

Accessible to all Comforting

Professional

Resourceful

9.4 Customer engagement strategy

The customer engagement strategy describes the relationship between the various system ‘go-lives’, transition to new processes and new ways of working and of the customers relationship to the new Property Tax Division:

Where does duplication already exist across the current service provision?

What sources of information exist in the customer organisation?

What is the current corporate service provision within the customer organisation?

What is the current management information within the customer organisation?

What are the current costs of delivery?

What are some of the current performance indicators?

What is the current investment cycle?

In turn, a number of principles need to be defined and agreed by the E&T Department in order to complete any engagement strategy. Key principles cover:

Ensure that the rate of transition is such that the organisation can absorb the changes and embed them into the current processes;

Ensure that the rate of transition is one which minimises disruption to the on-going operation and services;

Ensure that the systems are delivered in a timely manner and do not become the sole determining factor relating to when to make the transition in the respective customer engagement;

Minimise the need for dual working [old and new processes / systems concurrently].



9.5 Creation of pilot model Offices

There needs to be a “walk before you run” policy so that a sound understanding of delivering good customer service can be assimilated. As part of the development process it is suggested that a model office(s) is created to test the approaches proposed in this Blueprint, however, the creation of a model office must not inhibit the overall process and be used an excuse to delay the modernisation process. Rather it should be regarded as a “test laboratory” where theories and approaches can be tested. It could be used to investigate the development of the tax base and in particular the role of the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in that process. It could also be used to introduce the electronic document management system and the business process re-engineering that would flow from this practice.

It is important if not critical that the use of modern processes and their application to the collection and administration of property tax is fully understood. In the introduction and modernisation of property tax systems mistakes are often made because particular processes and approaches are used to influence the overall objective, which is to efficiently bill and collect the tax.

There are many examples of this erroneous approach. Two examples are:

Firstly the over emphasis on automated valuation processes (valuation push) where sophisticated models are created with out the basics of data capture and quality being resolved.

The second is the over reliance on GIS particularly to lead the administration process. GIS is an important tool in any land based administration process. A quality, full coverage GIS system is an essential element of the system delivery process but it is not as important as the core system which drives the financial integrity and the distribution of the tax liability as well as the administration, valuation, collection and enforcement processes



SECTION TEN

PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT

10.1 Programme Management Unit

The changes that are recommended within this blueprint are in many cases fundamental to the way in which the department works.

To ensure that change is managed effectively there is need to provide the Department a level of confidence that the projects under its control are being both directed and managed to meet those aims – essentially ensuring that the Department’s strategies and performance requirements are being met. In doing this, the projects will be measurable, managed, monitored and refined to ensure that investment and strategic goals are achieved.

Overall responsibility for the change process and the actions set out in the Action Plan will be that of the Head of the Department – the Secretary, Excise and Taxation. However, the post holder at any one time tends to be in position for no more than twelve months and this results in a watering down of overall responsibility and accountability.

For this reason the consultant team considers it essential that a programme management unit is established and reporting on a day to day basis to the Secretary, E&T and headed by a programme manager responsible for planning, directing and managing the changes required and the various project managers and their projects.

The Programme Manager will be responsible to the Secretary, E&T on a day-to-day basis but accountable for the Programme Management Steering Group (see below). This management reporting line will mean that on a change of Secretary the overall strategic direction will not change, which is a possibility if the Unit were responsible and accountable to the Head of the Department.

The setting up of a programme unit will allow for: -

Project initiation;

Change management;

Monitoring and evaluation;

Project FM, procurement;

Reporting and communication;

The ability to control the individual projects;

Identifying and managing programme / project risks;

Reducing inefficiencies as a result of duplicated effort and spend;

Planning appropriate resource usage;

Adding value by re-using existing resources;

Communicating disparate projects through a common body to the main stakeholders, e.g. the Director General of UIPT.



In addition, once the initial change programme has been completed there will be an on-going requirement to ensure that the processes, resources and systems put in place are kept up to date and fit for purpose.

The programme manager will be responsible for the various reviews required and ensuring that ongoing projects such as the ETAC application are kept up to date and necessary changes are made appropriately (e.g. changes to the law are reflected in the software).

Having a centralised programme office allows easier communication between management and the individual projects. It allows for better management information and for controls to be put in place. It also allows a common approach to be taken when running projects, and a core methodology to be implemented (such as Prince2 or PMP).

The overall effect will be [as the programme office matures] to increase confidence in the running and control of individual projects, so that they are implemented as expected and are on time and on cost.

It is essential that the programme manager carries sufficient seniority to ensure that the officers comply with his / her requests and instructions.

10.2 Programme Management Steering Group

In order to ensure that the change programme has adequate authority and is seen as an important element of the modernisation of the E&T Department the Programme Manager will be responsible to the Secreatry, E&T for the day to day operations and accountable to a Programme Management Steering Group that is chaired by the Chief Secretary / the Chairman P&D and the members will comprise the Secretary, E&T, the Secretary, Finance, the Secretary, Local Government, the Director – PRMP, the Director – Urban Unit, staff representation, City Council representatives and TMA representatives for the strategic direction and progress of the change programme..

The Programme Management Unit will have oversight and monitoring responsibility for the change program design and implementation and will

provide overall guidance and support to the reform programme. It will be the vehicle that will submit proposals for Government approval as necessary.

10.3 Working Groups

In developing the change it is important that specific dedicated working groups be set up to develop and take forward various elements of the change programme.

The diagram below shows the groups that we recommend be established.



Fig 5: Programme Management Structure

The Working Groups should be chaired by suitably experienced and qualified staff from either within the Department or where the appropriate experience is lacking e.g. ICT, from external sources.

10.4 Conclusions

The benefits of setting up a programme office and running projects using a set methodology can be reduced to three simplistic goals: -

Projects are as planned.

Projects are on budget.

Projects are on time.



Appendix A Bibliography

The following literature was made available to the Consulting Team during the course of the project:

Copies of legislation relevant to –

Urban Immoveable Property Tax Act 1958

THE PUNJAB URBAN IMMOVABLE PROPERTY (VALIDATION OF TAX) ACT, 1976, (Pb Act XX of 1976)

Motor Vehicle Taxes

Professional Tax

The Punjab Local Government Ordinance (No.XIII of 2001)

Ferguson Reports

Internal reports and documentation relevant to staffing, budgets, collection data and statistics.

Punjab Development Statistics, 2008. Bureau of Statistics, Government of the Punjab, Lahore

Relevant operational papers.

Public Financial Management Reports.

Taxes Collected by Excise and Taxation.

World Bank reports.

o Property Tax Administration - Functional Alignment and Assignment of Responsibility for the UIPT system.

o Property Taxes in the Large Cities of Punjab, Pakistan (2006).

o Pakistan: Provincial Government Taxation. (2008).

o World Bank, 2008: Tax Policy Report. Tapping Tax Bases for Development. Report No. XX-PK

o Government of Punjab-WB-EU-DfID, 2005: Punjab Public Financial Management and Accountability Assessment, Report No. 32569-PAK. Financial Management Unit, South Asia Region

Medium-Term Policy Framework of the Government of Punjab on the Urban Immovable Property Tax.

Information Technology:

Copy of Specification for UIPT system.

Finance Department / E&T / Urban Unit - various papers

Medium Term Budgetary Framework 2009 / 10.

Reports on decentralisation and public finances:

Devolution in Pakistan, ABD/DfID/WB, 2004.



Punjab Public Financial Management and Accountability Assessment, GoP-WB, 2005.

Internet search on Federal and Provincial Government websites:

http://pportal.punjab.gov.pk/portal/http://www.cbr.gov.pk/

http://www.pifra.gov.pk/

http://www.punjab-prmp.gov.pk/taxation_reforms.htm

http://www.statpak.gov.pk/

http://www.urbanunit.gov.pk/index.asp

http://www.fbr.gov.pk/frs/ (Federal Board of Revenue:?

http://www.nrb.gov.pk/ (National Reconstruction Bureau)

http://www.statpak.gov.pk/ (Statistics Division)

http://punjablaws.gov.pk/ (Punjab Laws online)

http://pportal.punjab.gov.pk/portal/

http://pportal.punjab.gov.pk/portal/

http://www.pifra.gov.pk/

http://www.punjab-prmp.gov.pk/taxation_reforms.htm


http://www.urbanunit.gov.pk/index.asp

http://www.fbr.gov.pk/frs/

http://www.nrb.gov.pk/


http://punjablaws.gov.pk/



Appendix B Example Electronic Mail (e-mail) Policy

This e-mail policy is intended to protect the security, privacy, and confidentiality of the Excise and Taxation Department, its customers, suppliers and all users. All employees, workers, consultants, contractors, and temporary staff are subject to this policy. Failure to comply may lead to disciplinary action being taken up to and including summary dismissal. Conduct and/or action(s) that are unlawful or illegal and may render users personally liable.

The purpose of this policy is to ensure that staff members of the Department understand the way in which e-mail should be used in the organisation. It aims to ensure that it is used effectively for its intended purpose without infringing legal requirements or creating unnecessary business risk.

The Department provides an e-mail system to staff members to support its activities and access to this system is allowed to members of staff on this basis. The Department provides e-mail facilities for business purposes only. E-mails sent or received on the business e-mail system are not private property; they form part of the administrative records of the business.

The use of the Department’s computer equipment and systems for the sending of personal e-mail messages is only permitted with the consent of the IT manager or a director.

Users must exercise due care when composing e-mails to avoid being perceived as rude or unnecessarily terse and ensure that messages meet the standards of professionalism the business expects. Users may cause offence where none is intended and should check the contents of e-mail messages to ensure they may not be construed by recipients as harassment or abuse of any kind. Users must not make any statements on their own behalf, on behalf of the business or express an intention or opinion that defames, libels or damages the reputation of any person.

E-mail messages that have been deleted from a users’ inbox can be traced and retrieved and the parties involved identified. Access to all web-based e-mail sites (e.g. Hotmail) is prohibited due to the potential threat of viruses and spam being spread and infecting systems.

The passwords you use to access your e-mail account and other systems are known only to yourself and must be kept secure and not disclosed to anyone.

Information relating to taxpayers, suppliers, employees or officers of the Department is confidential. All paper and electronic information must be kept secure and used only for the purpose(s) intended. It is not permitted to disclose information relating to the Department, its staff, suppliers or customers to any unauthorised third party (which may include other members of staff).

If an electronic document is confidential or sensitive in nature, users must store this in a private directory. Users must not forward, send, or in any way disseminate information that may compromise the business or breach confidentiality.

Mass-mailing is strictly forbidden.



When using email distribution lists (either server or personal) Users must ensure that these are input to the 'BCC' field of an email rather than the 'To' or 'CC' fields thereby ensuring that all addresses remain private to recipients. Upon receipt of a request to delete a recipient from a distribution list and to cease email transmission to the recipient users must immediately comply with the request.

Users must return any message received that was intended for another recipient and delete any copies of misdirected messages. An incorrectly addressed message should only be forwarded to the intended recipient if the identity of that recipient is known and certain. Users must verify the recipients of the e-mail are approved to receive the information contained in the e-mail, to avoid a breach of confidence.

Users must not engage in any e-mail activity that is illegal, distasteful or likely to have negative repercussions. Users must not upload, download, view, access, use, retain, distribute or disseminate any images, text, materials, or software which:

Are, or might be considered to be, indecent, obscene, pornographic or illegal.

Are, or might be offensive or abusive in that its content is or could be considered to be, a personal attack, rude or personally critical, generally distasteful.

Might be defamatory or incur liability on the part of the business, or adversely impact the image of the E&T Department.

Encourage or promote activities that make unproductive use of staff members' time.

Involve activities outside of the scope of responsibilities; for example, unauthorised selling / advertising of goods and services.

Might affect, or have the potential to affect, the performance of, damage or overload, the Department’s computer system, network and/or external communications, in any way.

Is a breach of copyright or license provision with respect to programs and/or data.

The following e-mail activities are also expressly forbidden:

The deliberate or reckless introduction of any form of computer virus.

Seeking to gain access to restricted areas of the network.

Forgery: for example sending an e-mail from some else's e-mail account.

Attempting to read another users' mail without express permission.

Sending personal e-mails without approval from the IT manager or a director.

The departmental managers and directors are responsible for notifying all business contacts of the impending, or subsequent, departure, termination, or re-assignment of an employee. Under no circumstances must an employee email, or otherwise communicate, their leaving without permission from their



department manager, who must check and approve the content and distribution of such communication.



Appendix C Example Internet Policy

The Internet Policy is intended to protect the security, privacy, and confidentiality of the Excise and Taxation Department and all users. All employees, workers, consultants, contractors, and temporary staff of the Department are subject to this policy. Failure to comply may lead to disciplinary action up to and including summary dismissal. At the same time, conduct and/or action(s) may be unlawful or illegal and may render users personally liable.

Use of the Internet by members of staff is permitted and encouraged where such use is for business purposes and supports the goals and objectives of the Department. The Internet is to be used in a manner that is consistent with the Department’s standards of business conduct and as part of the normal execution of the user’s job responsibilities.

The Department reserves the right to withdraw Internet access for individual staff members at any time should there be evidence that access rights are being abused in any way or where the user is in breach, or suspected to be in breach, of this policy.

Internet identities, passwords, accounts and web pages should not be used for anything other than corporate communications. Whilst the organisation takes great care automatically to automatically 'bar' potentially harmful web-sites before loading this cannot be relied upon to be 100%. The use of computing resources is subject to Pakistan legislation and any illegal use will be dealt with accordingly.

Use of Internet / Intranet and e-mail systems are subject to monitoring for security and/or network management reasons.

The distribution of any information through the Internet, intranet, computer-based services, e-mail, and messaging systems is inherently insecure and members of staff should not transmit confidential information via this means.

The following uses of Internet are not acceptable and will result in disciplinary action being taken, up to and including summary dismissal: -

Accessing, viewing, distributing, downloading or forwarding malicious, obscene, offensive, inappropriate, or abusive materials including, but not limited to, racist jokes, pornography and profanity

Using the Department's systems for personal gain or personal business transactions.

Downloading of games, images, or music.

Participating in Internet Relay Chat, 'chat-rooms', or instant messaging.

Any material downloaded or accessed deemed to be related to child pornography, 'grooming', or paedophilia will be immediately reported to the Police.

In some cases, usage of the internet for personal reason may be permitted, but this must be done out of normal office hours or with the express permission of their line manager, IT manager or director.



Appendix D Glossary of Terms / Abbreviations

“Personal Data” means data consisting of information which relates to a living individual who can be identified from that information, or in conjunction with other information in the possession of the data user.

“Data Subject” means a person who is the subject of the personal data.

“Data User” means a person who holds data.

“Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR)” A technology that can be installed on aircraft allowing 3d imaging to be captured at resolutions of 10cm or greater (per pixel) depending on the distance that the image was captured at and would provide a digital surface model – a topographic model of the survey area producing a highly accurate, high resolution model of the ground including buildings, vegetation, roads, and other terrain features.

Abbreviations Description

AA Assessing Authority

AETO Assistant Excise & Taxation officer

ARV Annual Rental Value

CDG City District Government

AVM Automated Valuation Model

DDO Deputy District Officer

DG Director General

DO District Officer

E&T Excise & Taxation Department

ETO Excise & Taxation Officer

GAV Gross Annual Value

GIS Geographical Information System

GoPunjab Government of Punjab Province

IPDF Infrastructure Project Development Facility

LAMP Linux – Apache – MySQL – PHP

LDA Lahore Development Authority

LGO Punjab Local Government Ordinance of 2001

LGs Local Governments (CDG, TLG, ULG)

LiDAR Light Detection And Ranging

LRA Land Revenue Act 1967

MIS Management Information System

NAR Net Annual Rent

O&M Operation and Maintenance

PDD Planning & Development Department

PFC Provincial Finance Commission

PRMP Punjab Resource Management Program

PT Property Tax

PKR Pakistan Rupees

SPU Strategic Policy Unit

TMA Tehsil/Town Municipal Administration

TMO Tehsil/Town Municipal Officer



UC Union Council

UIPT Urban Immovable Property Tax

USPMU Urban Sector & Policy Management Unit

WASA Water and Sanitation Agency

property tax decentralisation programpublic...

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