If Pakistanis paid their fair share of taxes, there would, perhaps, be little need to ask for foreign aid.
LAHORE: Much is made of Pakistan’s low tax-to-GDP ratio. Less than two million people, out of a population of around 180 million, pay income tax. This terrible situation is the result of official connivance, at all levels, which facilitates those who can and should pay tax into evading it. Successive governments have failed miserably on this very important issue, partly because the corruption related to tax evasion permeates all levels of officialdom.
The fact is that as long as those who evade paying tax and those who abet them in this crime are not given exemplary punishment, nobody will pay any taxes. Mere enactment of laws does not yield any benefit, unless the government exhibits the requisite political will to enforce them. If Pakistanis paid their fair share of taxes, there would, perhaps, be little need to ask for foreign aid.
The government should understand that enforcement is necessary all over the world and people do not pay their taxes voluntarily, they only do so out of fear of punishment if they were caught for tax evasion.
Malik Tariq Ali
Published in The Express Tribune, February 27th, 2012.
