ISLAMABAD: Speaking on the issue of tax collection in Pakistan, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said his party will inspire people to pay taxes. “Pakistan is a country which pays more charity than taxes because people know their money would not be used properly,” Khan said.
“Even I feel bad about paying taxes,” he added.
Speaking at a seminar on Friday where his party announced its Economic Policy Vision, Khan said that his party will double the tax to GDP ratio.
Boasting PTI's decision to visit Waziristan despite threats, Khan said it was a test even for his party members as the security situation is very alarming.
“But we will protest in Waziristan and this decision of ours shows that PTI has the capability to make big decisions,” Khan said.
The PTI chairman added that security is one of the main problems of Pakistan which needs to be immediately addressed.
“The business community in Pakistan is scared; factories are moving away to Bangladesh and Dubai,” he said.
Repeating his stance on the war on terror, Khan said Pakistan needs to pull itself out of the war to ensure law and order in Pakistan.
Speaking about various mafias working in Pakistan, Khan said that people are scared to fight against them because they know the mafias have friends in power corridors.
Praising overseas Pakistanis, Khan said the initial support needed to bring Pakistan out of the crisis will come from the Pakistanis living abroad.
Khan said people need to make Pakistan suitable for investment for its citizens living abroad. “We can only do so by ensuring rule of law and good governance,” he said.
Talking about depoliticising institutions to improve their performance, Khan said institutions can work well only if they are independent and run on merit.
Emphasising the importance of a meritorious team, be it for any sport or for running a country, Khan said that he had learned from his cricket experience that you cannot win a match if you have a team of your close friends. “A winning team must have best players from across the country,” Khan stated.
Bragging about his party leaders who have declared their assets publicly, Khan said when PTI will come to power, it will make every government official declare their assets publicly.
Speaking about adopting austerity, Khan said he will break all the symbols of opulence once in power. “We will vacate all the lavish governmental buildings and convert them into education institutes and libraries,” he said.
Stating that Pakistan is fighting for its survival, the PTI chairman said if his party comes to power and is not allowed to implement its plans, then PTI will quit the government.
“It’s a useless thing to say that we were not allowed to improve conditions and still stay in government,” Khan said.
When asked about Pakistan’s relationships with other countries particularly India and Israel, Khan said Pakistan needs to renew its connections with the international community.
“But we cannot trade or have a working relation with Israel because what it is doing with the Palestinian people is unacceptable to Pakistanis,” he concluded.
COMMENTS (49)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
No taxes, no Sita white, cash cow Shakut Khanum properties in London and Islamabad no other cricketer had this type of money. Who funds your political party.
where are your tax returns from 1994 to 2008, if sir you show this i will join your party.
Imran stand up and say that when you will come in to power you will separate the State from the religion and then let me see how you will manage to even think about the elections. You have to stand up to the very root cause of Pakistan and what it stands for currently, and all the otherissues will fall in place due to your own personal actions. The best way to guide any nation out of its mess is by the personal leadership of its leaders, look at Germany China Korea Taiwan Japan Thailand and the list goes on and on. People will do what you will show them to do, currently they are doing what the current leadership is doing, playing thugs looters and what not.
@Falcon: ".... on the issue of tax morale. In simple terms, tax-to-GDP ratio of a country is directly proportional to tax morale, which itself is strongly correlated with the quality of governance." . You are saying that to become a modern welfare state the GDP has to be raised considerably. This would entail budgetary preferences to go through a radical change, which runs contrary to the dictates of the present politico-economic system, of which the country has been a victim of for most of its existence. . The ruling clique will resist redistribution of income to allocate more funds for health, education, etc. Meaningful changes would be suicidal for the rulers. Folk don't count, which is a long gone conclusion. The resulting disenfranchisation is reflected in the low participation in electoral activities, compared to Scandinavia where 80-90% (?) vote.
@intellectual:
I will vote for the most secular party and person which is PPP inclusive of zardari. I dont think anyone in thier right mind will vote for taliban khan. This should be clear from Gilani by poll where the entire media, judiciary, PML N, PTI Military were pitched against PPP and lost. This shows that Pakistanis have lost faith in your brand of islam and its hollow rhetoric.
@pakistani_Mohajir:
Have you not checked tweets and facebook pages of Imran Khan and PTI? He clearly condemned the way the Christian girl is being harrassed and persecuted. For your information,IK even supported the stand of (Late)Salman Taseer too for Asia Bibi,and Taseer himself acknowledged IK's support in his very last interview few days prior to his assassination.
@Rehan: If IK is a hypocrate, whom do u want Pakistanis to vote for, Mr. nawaz (not shareef) or zardari, (ppp) who find it easy to get some financial help for themselves from the taxpayers money, in form of corruption
Country can't move with out paying taxes and developing the system. I am impressed to see video of Economic Policy presented by PTI team and given here: http://youtu.be/ZtU0MAcXTRM
@Ali Wali: ooo really?
@Nadir: Lastly, please also feel free to research extensive literature that has been written recently on the issue of tax morale. In simple terms, tax-to-GDP ratio of a country is directly proportional to tax morale, which itself is strongly correlated with the quality of governance.
Today Imran Khan, '...Pakistan is fighting for its survival..."
Yesterday Imran Khan, "..It is NOT out war, let us get out of this war"
Make up your mind. Stop flip flopping.
One day you supported Musharruf's grabing of power and next year you declared him bad dictator.
@Nadir: Sir Ji - I feel you have over-dramatized the issue. His statement should be looked at the backdrop of how he is trying to highlight the significance of taxes and how he is trying to relate to the masses. "Even I don't like paying taxes, but state can not run without taxes and we are all responsible for it"...that's all it means, which is the same thing as you are saying, but just because IK is saying it a certain way, he is wrong???
What you will do if others say we wont pay taxes to I K all you will have left to go and beg from U S``
well done Mr khan
“Pakistan is a country which pays more charity than taxes because people know their money would not be used properly,” Khan said.
Doesn't he know that Pakistanis have not paid taxes since 1947? Could all of us foretell the future that taxes will be misused? Stop dreaming Mr. IK.
"Speaking about adopting austerity, Khan said he will break all the symbols of opulence once in power. “We will vacate all the lavish governmental buildings and convert them into education institutes and libraries,” he said."
So that his Taliban friends can blow them up against whom he does not utter a single word.
@pakistani_mohajir IK said this on the Down's Syndrome girl:
@Ali Wali: "Well you never paid no tax. " . Till now I thought it was loose gossip. Thanks for confirming that you too have been leeching the system.
Very well said Imran Khan. Excellent...
@Logic Europe: i would have agreed to this claim of yours Only if you were a God... but since you are NOT don't act like a God
The nation stands right behind you! Inshallah you will be elected as our next PM!!!
@pakistani_Mohajir- U r right- IK should be blamed for not doing anything on this tragic event. IK should follow another Mohajir Crusadar from London and "JUST" issue statements on everything that take place in Pakistan-
You are right Kaptan.....Pakistani usually prefer to donate there way into Janat......however, do not believe in paying there due share in the societies and countries they live in..... Kaptan you do represent the true spirit of Jihadi mindset.
It’s just amazing how IK haters would take any opportunity attack him. What IK said in his press conference does resonate with every tax paying citizen, because of the plundering and waste by the corrupt & incompetent politicians and officials. BUT because IK said it so lets denounce it. So ridiculous & pathetic !
@pakistani_Mohajir: He has already mentioned that the girl should be released (specially because she is young and not in the best health). But that will get highlighted only when media chooses to publish his statement.
pakistani_Mohajir: He gave statement against arrest of the girl but unfortunately our executive is too naive to take any strong step!
This article not written by a professional - words like boasting and bragging are used by teenagers expressing their opinions on a blog
It's just amazing how IK haters would take any opportunity attack him. What IK said in his press conference does resonate with every tax paying citizen, because of the plundering and waste by the corrupt & incompetent politicians and officials. BUT because IK said it so lets denounce it. So ridiculous & pathetic !
And where does this charity money go, Kaptaan Saab?
Even I feel bad about paying taxes... and don't want to pay taxes any more. . However everybody else should definitely pay their taxes though otherwise I may not get roads, schools and hospitals. . On a serious note Kaptaan Khan, I can't believe you are so naive. It would have been an altogether different matter if you insisted on oversight mechanisms for taxes and appealed to Pakistanis to pay their share of taxes. . Were you born yesterday?
100% agree with IK. May god help u to implement these changes.
This logic sounds convincing until you hear that Pakistanis deliberately understate their income in welfare states like Canada and UK so that they do not have to pay taxes and also gain social services they are not legitimately entitled to.
This is not something that a hating Indian is saying. In fact this was the explanation provided by several Pakistanis in the Dawn blog by Murtaza Haider to explain the difference between how well Indians are doing in Canada versus Pakistanis.
So there might be much more necessary to improve tax to GDP ratio than getting an honest government in.
Khan said that he had learned from his cricket experience that you cannot win a match if you have a team of your close friends. “A winning team must have best players from across the country,” Khan stated.
Then why didn't apply this in the case of Ejaz Haideri??????? Why was Ejaz the trustee, head of the shell companies and finally invested in a piece of illiquid land in Oman??????
Answer IK the questions , IK .
Naive at best. If people are paying more for charity than their due taxes, it could also mean something else is at work. For instance, no one will ask you to show your source of income for charity and zakat - but one has to declare all sources of income from which the tax liability is arrived at.
Clearly, this simplistic approach by PTI chief (i.e. either it's black or white) is registering well with his unsuspecting political followers on other issues too. Zero Shades of Grey! :)
Yes you will be more proamerican than tha Nawaz and ZARDARI
Cheating on Taxes and giving Charity way to go. Pakistanis don't pay taxes so Western countries pay billions of dollars of Zakat to Pakistan
Well said. As for declaration of public assets, it is really important. In most of the countries with decent governance mechanisms, all public sector employees have to disclose their asset base. Essentially, the idea is that if you are a public servant, act like one!
I have to agree with him on this. This is specially eye-opening for the people who want to follow the west blindly.
Sigh, an ant preparing to donate blood to an elephant. Sort your own mess out before championing the cause of Palestinians and Kashmiris. They are doing much better when it comes to internal security, religious freedom and treating minorities.
Well you never paid no tax.
Paying taxes is a civic duty, no excuses. We wouldnt be in many of the messes we are in if people paid there taxes. Statements such as these just help tax dodgers and evaders feel better about themselves and justify their actions. Money may be missuse sure, but for all those nationalistic Pakistanis, who go on and on about brave jawans, dont you think they deserve to be paid? Shouldn't teachers, nurses, rescue 15, fireman et al, get paid and that to on time?
This populist rhetoric has now reduced tax paying to a political jesture. People now say that they will pay taxes ONLY if their political party comes to power. In the meantime things get worse whcih insures that even if your political party comes to power, the situation will not be reversed.
All these activists of "change" stop slogenering, if you dont want to be under the influence of foreign diktat, pay your taxes, its because the power that be know that people will not pay their taxes, that they are not invested in their opinions.
Tax paying is a patriotic duty, flying Pakistani flags, rubbishing India-US, and making emotive statements is not what patriotism is about!
“But we cannot trade or have a working relation with Israel because what it is doing with the Palestinian people is unacceptable to Pakistanis,” he concluded. Hmm. What about China, which has long persecuted its Muslim population? No, of course, who cares about how China treats its Muslim population! China is our all-weather ally–the same all-weather ally who has rejected our appeals for aid for the past three years (while the US has consistently provided funds, despite us back-stabbing them again and again)! Or, what about Syria, which slaughters its own people? Or, perhaps, what about Pakistan itself, where minorities are pulled off buses and shot in broad daylight? By your logic, we should stop talking to ourselves. The hypocrisy and absurdity of IK knows no bounds. Regards, Rehan
once a pakistani said to me while talking on kashmir issue "hamare yahan gali gali me pan wale mujahideeno ke liye chanda ikkhata karte hen".Now i know he was correct.
Yes I fully agree. And then those who do not pay taxes get free plots
Can IK please raise a concern on down syndrome girl who is been harrassed in jail for the last few days. At least we all expect something from him to deliver and raise. Come on IK bring on the change, speak for truth and dont be just like others.
The nation stands with you my leader. Long Live the Chairman