The major flaw in Pakistan’s resource mobilisation is the lack of federalism. The provinces are weak.
NEWARK, DE, US: The major flaw in Pakistan’s resource mobilisation is the lack of federalism. The provinces are weak. The 18th Amendment is a step in the right direction but there, too, the central government actually ‘allocates’ resources to the provinces. That means the federal government collects revenue and gives it to the provinces. However, if the provinces are allowed to collect the sales tax on goods, the federal government will be forced to collect more direct taxes. This will increase the resource mobilisation capacity of the state as a whole. Pakistan’s richest and biggest province, Punjab (population 95 to 100 million) has a provincial budget of $6.8 billion. A comparable state in India is Andhra Pradesh (population 85 million) and its budget for 2011 is close to $29 billion. The difference is that Punjab does not have much control over its own revenue mobilisation. If the people do not have much control over their own resources, at provincial levels at least, you cannot blame the military for eating up the lion’s share.
C Raj
Published in The Express Tribune, June 8th, 2011.
