Growing inequality

What is needed to reform the situation is a system where tax is levied on the rich, ensured that they actually pay it

The statement that the rich get richer, while the poor get poorer appears to hold true for the citizens of Pakistan. Recent statistics published in the report, “Even it Up: Time to End Extreme Inequality” by Oxfam International indicate that a boy born in a rural setting to a father whose socioeconomic status falls in the bottom 20 per cent holds less than two per cent chance of ever being in the top 20 per cent of the population. This results in the achievement gap between students who attend government schools and those who are privileged to attend private schools, pay for tutors and standardised tests, and then eventually exorbitant university fees. These conditions have held true for a long time in Pakistan; at a recent report launching ceremony in Islamabad, we learned that the same number of people live in poverty today as they did in 1964.

Economic disparity and class warfare in the country is no secret. They can be blamed for rampant crime we see all over Pakistan. What is needed to reform this situation is the development of a system wherein tax is levied on the rich and then it is ensured that they actually pay their taxes. Instead, paying taxes is a rarity for many of our high-income citizens. Money, which would ideally go towards investment in education and health sectors and would prevent a BCom graduate from working a sweeper’s job, instead remains untaxed.

It is difficult to depend on the government to amend this system since lawmakers themselves have been known to evade taxes, according to the report. Many working for official departments are often even desperate for bribes. Nonetheless, economic disparity is a matter that needs to be addressed on an urgent basis and one over which our ruling class must be held accountable due to its own corrupt behaviour of not paying taxes. Those few citizens who pay taxes cannot continue to take a heavy tax burden on their incomes each year; they should not be punished for the greediness of other richer citizens of the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 3^rd, 2014.

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