Viewpoint: Penny wise, pound foolish

Withdrawal of tax subsidy will increase brain drain.

KARACHI: In 2000-01, the Government of Pakistan introduced a tax rebate of 75% to full-time teachers and researchers as a strategy to put a hold on the outflow of some of the best talent in the country including educationists, researchers, doctors, nurses, engineers, and other professionals who were migrating out of the country.

Since then this has helped in retention of trained professionals whose pay scales are much lower in Pakistan as compared to the developed world and the Gulf region.

This has helped to raise the standards of teaching, research, health services, and other professional services in the country. But that may now all change as there has been an announcement in the draft finance bill of the withdrawal of the tax subsidy to full time teachers and researchers.

If this is implemented, it will lead to severe brain drain, and destroy the gains made in education, research, health services and other professional services over the last 10 years. It is highly recommended that this subsidy continue. It will result in the best teachers, researchers, doctors, nurses, engineers, professionals from a large number of fields seeking and gaining employment in the Gulf and other western countries, as a talented work force is internationally sought after. This will be detrimental to the delivery of education, health, and other professional services at every level in our country. This will prevent Pakistanis from benefiting from world class education, health services and other professional services in Pakistan.

A large majority of those who cannot gain employment in the international markets will be left to serve the country, resulting in lower standards in every area. With the exit of researchers, the country will not be able to introduce any new technology and will always be dependent on the developed world; Our students will be deprived of highly qualified teachers, our hospitals will be deprived of highly trained specialist doctors, etc., etc. It will be a national disaster, which will also result in a huge cut in the take-home pay of all teachers and researchers in Pakistan, and will be against the new government’s manifesto claim of supporting education and research.

This move to reverse the tax rebate will be disastrous for the faculty and researchers of Pakistan and will cause irreparable damage if not reversed. The total revenue that the Government is estimated to generate from removal of this subsidy is only 0.12% (Rs.3 Billion) of the total revenue of Rs.2,598 Billion, but the negative impact of removal of this rebate will be colossal.

A visionary government with a commitment to support and promote education and research in Pakistan will not put the future of Pakistan at stake for mere peanuts. We are hopeful that our leadership will value these observations and will instruct the FBR to reinstate the given subsidy for a better Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 20^th, 2013.