90% of our foreign remittances comprise money sent by expatriate community who do not hold foreign nationalities
LAHORE: This refers to the ongoing debate and series of allegations and counter-allegations exchanged between the PML-N and opposition parties, namely, the PTI, the PPP and the Jamaat-e-Islami. As far as the people of Pakistan are concerned, their sole interest is to stop the illegal flight of capital, tax evasion and damage inflicted upon the economy by members of the political elite, traders and the civil or uniformed bureaucracy. If individual citizens of Pakistan choose to move their assets and families to foreign safe havens, then such people have no right to hold elected or paid public offices, where the fate of millions living in Pakistan is to be decided.
The unfortunate reality is that 90 per cent of our foreign remittances comprise money sent by the expatriate community who do not hold foreign nationalities to support their families back home. The majority of them work in the Middle East and the Far East.
If any Pakistani citizen has earned money abroad and to save on the payment of taxes in that foreign country, they operate through offshore companies, it does not harm the economy of Pakistan. Our problem is the money transferred through money laundering, illegal channels and loopholes built within rules to facilitate the transfer of hard foreign exchange from Pakistan, depriving this country of taxes and reinvestment. Billions are being siphoned off from this country, whose debts are mounting, and a lack of revenue generation through direct taxation is a hurdle in the way of socio-economic development. This organised and institutionalised corruption deprives our economy of vital finances, adding to the ranks of unemployed youth, who are falling prey to recruitment by criminals and terrorists.
Malik Tariq Ali
Published in The Express Tribune, May 22nd, 2016.
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