All annual budgets of federal and provincial governments—civil or military alike—for the last five decades, especially tax proposals through Finance Bills, have strengthened elitist structures. For decades, Pakistan has remained captive in the hands of the indomitable militro-judicial-civil complex
All political parties in their manifestos
Budget, Taxes & Growth Contrary to what is commonly understood, elitist structures are not represented merely by a handful of individuals controlling state institutions and enjoying tax-free extraordinary perks, perquisites and benefits. These elitist structures reflect in all sorts of discriminations—in taxation, extorting money from the poor for the benefit of the rich, in academics, non-availability of quality education and health facilities for all, crony capitalism creating monopolies, denying finance to brilliant young entrepreneurs for starting and competing with established businesses, rent-seeking opportunities created through state policies for politicians in power and non-providence of social services to the masses etc.
On an average, a rich non-salaried individual having annual agricultural income of Rs. 6 million is paying 15% tax as compared to high-paid salaried professionals paying 35% on the same income.
The Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, in its essence, is egalitarian, but the exploitation of all kinds continues unabated. Article 3 of the Constitution says: “The State shall ensure the elimination of all forms of exploitation and the gradual fulfillment of the fundamental principle, from each according to his ability to each according to his work.”
Pakistan’s economy serves only the privileged classes. The militro-judicial-civil-complex, politicians and absentee landowners represent less than 1% of the entire population of over 244 million
Adulthood And Soldiering: Encountering Zia-ul-Haq And Planning For The Future On an average, a rich non-salaried individual having annual agricultural income of Rs. 6 million is paying 15% tax as compared to high-paid salaried professionals paying 35% on the same income. While, those providing employments to millions pay corporate tax of 29% plus surcharge and many other levies and double taxation on dividends. How can we achieve sustainable growth without new investments and rapid industrialization?
Muhammad Aurangzeb
The rich-poor divide through erratic taxes
Growing inequalities in income and wealth is a serious issue in Pakistan and regressive taxation
Aawaz II: Integrating Behaviour Change And Community Engagement On Policy And Programming The State is obliged under the Constitution
The problem in Pakistan is not a scarcity of resources, but its unjust distribution, as well as incompetence in exploring and managing them, the lack of an effective judiciary and socioeconomic injustice.
How public servants thrive on the taxpayers’ money and exploit foreign funding is an open secret. Most of them get scholarships of foreign agencies to attend elite universities in the United States. They openly express their elitist views and a right to such entitlements. Their children born during their stay abroad automatically get US citizenship. When they return with their families to lord over poor Pakistan, their children go to the finest schools and live in public estates that nobody in the West can even imagine. After high school, these US-born children apply to the finest universities like Harvard, Columbia etc and not only get admissions, but also financial assistance as they fill out financial aid applications and only provide information about their parents’ nominal salaries in rupees and not the full monetized value
Of Qaum, Mulk And Sultanat: Ali Usman Qasmi’s Study Of National Belonging And The Pakistani State Without fail, they are given free rides in American universities because of the apparently extremely low-income households they come from. After graduation, they stay there and easily get jobs because they are Americans, thus providing a comfortable beach head for their ‘poor’ parents. These are the real fruits of elitist structures that are not available to the country’s common citizens’ children.
The suffering of the Pakistani poor and less-privileged classes will not end unless elitist structures are dismantled and society is restructured on the principles of equity, fairness and justice—the fundamental elements of constitutional democracy. The problem in Pakistan is not a scarcity of resources, but its unjust distribution, as well as incompetence in exploring and managing them, the lack of an effective judiciary and socioeconomic injustice.
High and sustainable growth is not possible with the present oppressive
Peace Prospects For Azerbaijan And Armenia: The Zangezur Corridor As Hurdle And Opportunity Without these reforms and fiscal decentralisation
The economy of ashrafiya-controlled-Pakistan serves the interests of the privileged classes. The ruling classes, representing only 2% of entire population, own 95% of national resources.
In the first week of June 2024, the PML-N government will present and get the Finance Bill 2024 passed, without any difficulty—as has always happened in the past. The majority of the members from the Treasury Bench in private will admit that Finance Bill places too much reliance on indirect taxation. However, they say, “We are bound to toe the party line”! It is an undisputed fact that the present, and earlier governments, have perpetually demonstrated, that they have no desire or concern for making Pakistan an egalitarian State through fair and just taxation. The prerequisite of such taxation is improving contribution of direct taxes as a tool of redistribution of wealth.
The majority of writers, experts and TV anchors do no highlight the above and follow the line of donors and their crony elites that “more taxes” are needed. Nobody raises the question, taxes for what? Why 60% of the population lives below the poverty line is not their concern. The non-fulfilment of fundamental rights “for lack of funds” and reliance on “borrowed funds” has a clear nexus.
Between A Rock And A Hard Place: Muslim Americans And Upcoming US Presidential Elections The elites want to waste resources on their luxuries. This colossal wastage of resources, coupled with non-taxation of the rich and mighty, has created a variety of crises for Pakistan, abject poverty for majority of population, unemployment, slow economic growth, debt trap, poor infrastructure, monstrous fiscal and trade deficits, shortage of forex reserves and huge current account deficit.
The economy of ashrafiya-controlled-Pakistan serves the interests of the privileged classes. The ruling classes, representing only 2% of entire population, own 95% of national resources. They exploit
It is tragic that in a country where billions of rupees are made daily in speculative transactions at stock exchanges and in the real estate sector, the rich own palatial houses, even in posh and expensive zip codes in foreign countries, maintain imported luxury cars and have army of servants and personal guards, investments abroad, and tax-to-GDP ratio is one of the lowest
Governance: Bureaucracy And Politicians, Pakistan, Turkey And Taiwan The finance ministers of successive regimes and stalwarts of the revenuecracy keep on blaming the people for “not paying taxes” and that our “tax base is narrow.” These are blatant lies. The fact is that Pakistanis are the most heavily taxed
The worthy members of Parliament never bother to ponder about the impact of regressive taxation on the ailing economy and its devastating burden on the poor.
The majority of mobile users may not have taxable income, yet they are burdened with undue liability. On the contrary, majority of rich just pay a fraction of income tax (withheld at source) on actual taxable incomes without even bothering to file income tax returns—those filed, only a few over 100,000 admitted a tax liability of more than Rs 500,000. The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR
Khula And Dissolution Of Marriage Are Two Separate And Distinct Rights There are no two opinions on the fact that the entire budget making process in Pakistan represents the epitome of the apathy of parliamentarians towards the masses of this country, who vote them into power with the hope that they would do something for their socio-economic uplifting or at least provide them basic essential services—housing, transport, education and health, to say the least. The worthy members of Parliament never bother to ponder about the impact of regressive taxation on the ailing economy and its devastating burden on the poor.
In every civilized and democratic society, it is the sole prerogative of elected members to initiate the process of law-making and devising of national policies after taking public input into account. It is the prime rule of a democratic process that no law or policy should be made unless a thorough debate is held in parliament. In Pakistan, the rulers, military and civilian alike, always bypass parliamentary processes and then complain about lack of “democratic behavior and culture.”
Every year, the budget-making exercise is entrusted to bureaucrats sitting in the Ministry of Finance and FBR, while the Parliament conveniently restricts its role to a silent approver. Due to non-participation of public representatives in budget-making, the financial managers and tax collectors have persistently failed to overcome the ever-increasing monstrous fiscal deficit and remove fiscal imbalances, as their tax policies are narrowly based on collecting taxes at source, without bringing powerful and wealthy sections of society within the tax net, or collecting what is actually due from them. They will never recommend a reduction in wasteful expenses as being part of the state oligarchy, they enjoy a life of luxury at taxpayers’ expense. Our budgets and our economy is only for them!
Of Birds And Bird Lovers - And The Lucknow That Was
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Belen Fernandez
Tarik Cyril Amar
Rami G Khouri
Dr Ramzy Baroud
Mort Laitner
visit website
