Pay your taxes, save a life

Everyone has a story. This has been all too tragically illustrated in the wake of Flight ED202 and its terrible ending.  Scholars, athletes, newlyweds — these are just some of the people that are being mourned by family and loved ones around Pakistan and the world. My heart goes out to them.

The story of this fatal plane crash received wide coverage in the press and from the government. Investigations have been promised and ordered — and in the wake of any concrete information from the black box — experts have weighed in with their opinion of what might have gone wrong. In light of what’s happened it is only natural that people want to know whom or what to blame and what could have been done to prevent this in the first place. Unfortunately there are no easy answers and even some hard truths that will have to be faced. You see, Pakistan is a poor country, and a developing nation. More pertinently, it’s a corrupt country, with Transparency International estimating that corruption will cost the national exchequer at least Rs223 billion this year alone.

So why do I mention corruption hand in hand with plane crashes? Because aviation safety is expensive. ILS (instrument landing system) installation costs money, and lots of it. The CAA (The Civil Aviation Authority – watchdogs of our civilian skies) employees have to be well-trained and properly remunerated, and that’s expensive. State of the art rescue systems and emergency medical technicians are likewise a costly necessity. A country bordering on bankruptcy can ill-afford to implement and maintain these potentially life-saving measures.

Worse yet, most of us are culpable in this corruption. A recent New York Times article estimates that less than two per cent of Pakistanis pay income tax. Adjust for age and employment, and you’re still left with the sobering reality that three out of four citizens are not paying their taxes. Every time you ask for a bill without GST, every time you pay for something under the table, every time you pass over a bribe — every time you’re depriving the country of vital revenue that could be used to make the country a better and safer place to live, work and travel.

Now, I’m not naive. I know that the people to whom we are paying the taxes, the government, are far from exemplary. Corruption and tax evasion are probably as prevalent – if not more so – in the corridors of power and even within the tax collection system. With a very few notable exceptions, who are our role-models? But I promise you this, if you do decide to pay some of your hard-earned rupees to the state, you will feel a sense of ownership in this nation and that can be a powerful tool for spurring on a change for the better.

And it may turn out that the ED202 was the result of a completely unforeseeable and unpreventable situation, though that may be of little consolation to the people grieving for their loved ones. But at least we can do everything in our power to make sure that whatever senseless loss of life can be prevented, is.

So please, get your records and cheque books and pay your taxes. Maybe you’ll save a life.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 31^st, 2010.