One: do you stand for land reform? If yes, please make your stand clear on the Federal Shariat Court’s verdict against it.
Two: do you believe that income from agriculture should be treated like any other income? If so, then make a commitment to introduce the required amendment to the Constitution so that the normal income tax applies to agricultural income as well.
It will buy credibility if Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Malik Ghulam Mustafa Khar are made to repeat the answers given in public by the leaders.
Three: will you reintroduce the taxes on propertied classes abolished during General (retd) Pervez Musharraf’s regime? These include wealth tax and estate/death duties.
Four: Will you restore the corporate tax rate to its pre-Musharraf level?
If the answers are in the affirmative, then the leaders should make a declaration to that effect before their respective dharnas. In so doing, Mr Jahangir Tareen and the Chaudhry brothers should be on their side to declare affirmative action in full public view.
Just as the rich and the powerful are not willing to pay their dues to the state, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is neither able nor willing to collect these dues in full. Hence the next question.
Five: would you abolish the present FBR and replace it with a statutorily autonomous body answerable to the Council of Common Interests, not the federal government, with laws amended suitably to jail the delinquents and staffed by professionals recruited on merit, and the powers to collect provincial as well as federal taxes?
Six: would you amend the Constitution to do away with the National Finance Commission Awards, fully devolve sales tax to the provinces and property tax to local governments to ensure a well-resourced autonomy to the three levels of government for effective delivery of services?
Seven: would you fully devolve the ownership of natural resources to the provinces to satisfy the aspirations of smaller provinces?
Eight: would you save strategic assets by stopping privatisation, which has neither reduced debt nor promoted investment? Let Mr Asad Umer prove his managerial mettle in the public sector.
Nine: would you, in a period of five years, make resources available to shift villages, urban housing, public buildings and all public lighting to solar power and to incentivise local manufacture of solar equipment of such quality that the country finds a niche in the export market?
Ten: would you consider taking over all houses above one kanal to provide housing for all in the shortest possible time in urban areas and to distribute state lands to the homeless in rural areas?
Eleven: would you make a solemn declaration to make adequate cash transfers to those below the poverty line to ensure nutritional security?
Published in The Express Tribune, October 3rd, 2014.
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COMMENTS (9)
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You know something is wrong with the writer if he poses 11 questions to protesters when the questions should have been posed to those who are ruling (and have the power to implement them). What Dharna folks will or will not do is to be seen - but at least we are sure about the current rullers that they are not gonna do all these 11 points (not even half of them). So, we agree on ineligibility of the govt? :)
An excellent and serious write up..........I am certain that the higher ups in the PTI will have an answer to your questions with sound reasoning, even if they disagree. On the other hand if the same questions were put to the PPP-Z or the PML-N they would probably feign ignorance or say they have delivered all this, or simply use their favourite tactic of ' talk it to death '.
@Ricky: Care to provide any examples of this disdain and hatred from pti?
@Mirza: I agree with you but PTI would not go even for half of these questions. They are not for the welfare of the people but for the power to rule. The disdain and hatred they show toward the choices of rural population says a lot about their democratic character.
Another Non League approved cheat sheet of questions. Of course, most of these are policies of PTI already, save a few, which are not relevant or counter productive.
PTI's two main goals are, in that order: 1) to impose austerity and stop mega corruption in government finances to utilise existing tax receipts to their fullest, and 2) to widen the tax net to increase tax receipts, not by raising taxes, unless absolutely required.
The path leads from step 1 to 2, not the other way around. Assessing the full impact of the first step post implementation will determine how harsh/lenient the taxation in the 2nd step ought to be; otherwise, it will be political suicide as well as being economically counter productive.
Excellent questions.
Dharna leades should answer, however, what is stopping the govt from doing these? If any govt were to implement these suggestions, they will definitely win another term.
Excellent!
The only sensible article I have come across since the dharnas started.
If the PAT and the Maulana refuse to answer the questions unequivocally, there is no reason why Nawaz should not answer them in the affirmative for the sake of proving his regime's. legitimacy.
The writer has provided the only way out of the current impasse.
Man I love you and ET for bringing out the real issues not the rhetoric in public. Dharna are only emotional talks full of hatred against all elected institutions even though the Senate has nothing to do with the last elections. Let us hold their feet to the fire and not let these two leaders end their agitation without achieving something substantial for the poor masses. You talk about 11 questions, I guarantee that these Awami leaders would not even answer half of them. Who could imagine Choudhry brothers or SM Qureshi giving up anything to their poor followers. Most of the corruption in Pakistan would end if there is a consumption tax, which is in line with your proposal to tax huge properties and mansions. Every luxury item including homes, expensive cars and others luxuries be taxed to max. People should know how much tax these people give while living in complete luxury without ever making a living?
I salute the majority of Pakistanis who have rejected the naivete of the dharna types. They think by dancing to DJ Butt and chanting slogans, they can cause change. They should learn from the Germans that there is only working hard and respecting order that society becomes successful. If they work with democratic set up for many years, then real change can come. Not partying at silly dharnas and wasting money or making mess or beating up policemen and breaking buildings.