In this together
We have a tax problem. No, not just Pakistan, the world has a tax problem. For all the claims about poverty reduction that authorities around the world boasted about pre-pandemic, the wealth gap seems wider than ever. And while the wealthy may convince themselves that they are immune to its ill-effects, the fact is we’re all in this boat together.
The novel coronavirus has unravelled some basic assumptions we had about how the world worked. As it turns out, those who society considered replaceable were essential all along. But the pandemic is not the first wakeup call we’ve received on the perils of inequality. Looking back, we have been putting this alarm on snooze for a long time.
Is it any wonder that most of the countries that reported best results in containing Covid-19 were ones with lower inequality. In countries, like ours, that continue to struggle with the pandemic, much of the blame is put on ‘uninformed’ masses that refuse to take precautions. True to an extent, we conveniently ignore that this is simply a symptom for a fundamentally ill system.
By disregarding and actively increasing the wealth gap, governments and corporations around the world have created low-trust societies. This lack of trust is one major reason why people continue to buy Covid-19 conspiracy theories and vehemently refuse to follow SOPs. It is also why populist and majoritarian rhetoric is increasingly gaining hold around the world, and it doesn’t take a political scientist to tell you that there’s no light at the end of that tunnel.
On the bright side, at least some of the world’s rich and powerful seem to have realised this. Recently, a group of 83 of the world’s wealthiest individuals urged government’s around the world to ‘immediately and permanently’ increase taxes on the superrich. One hopes that their plea won’t fall on deaf ears and that other wealthy people will also realise the gravity of the situation. At home, one also wishes that our rich and powerful will understand the same. Rich or poor, we will all go down with this ship.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 20th, 2020.
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