A DELEGATION of officials from Pakistan has visited Bradford for tips on collection methods for council tax and business rates.

The 11-strong delegation of civil servants, mostly from the Excise and Taxation departments in The Punjab and Sindh regional governments, met Bradford Council leader Susan Hinchcliffe and the authority’s finance officers to learn about how the tax collection system operates in Bradford.

The group was also given a number of presentations of the ICT systems Bradford Council uses to collect taxes.

They also had lunch with the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Bradford, Councillor Geoff Reid and his wife Chris, at City Hall today.

The delegation, which also included a World Bank representative, also met the Consul General of Pakistan Ahmed Amjad Ali at the Pakistani Consulate in Bradford.

They will fly out to Belfast tomorrow to see how that city’s council collects council tax and business rates, as part of the second leg of its week-long UK fact-finding mission.

Rizwan Akram Sherwani, director of excise and taxation with the Punjab government, said: “The government’s system that we have for collecting taxes is still in its infancy. We can learn more.

“The tax system is the largest source of income in local government. It is ten to 15 per cent in local government in Pakistan, but it is 50 per cent in the UK and Bradford. We need to see how can that be replicated.

“The Bradford system is very good. It leads the way and is much more advanced than ours.

“We are looking into collection and enforcement of taxes.”

Councillor Abdul Jabar, Bradford Council’s executive member for neighbourhoods and community safety who helped organise the visit, said: “We are extremely pleased that the delegation has chosen to come to Bradford.

“Bradford is a lead on this field, particularly property tax and ICT Systems.

“We have world class customer service and council tax and business rates collection thanks to our innovative ICT systems and excellent management and administration of property taxes.”

The Lord Mayor, Cllr Reid also welcomed the delegation’s decision to visit to the city, adding it will help forge closer relationships between the district and the Punjab and Sindh regional governments.

He added: “I am pleased that there are representatives from both ends of Pakistan here at this meeting.”

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