Eradication of poverty an obligation

Last year the finance minister of Pakistan officially set the minimum wage of an unskilled worker at 10,000 rupees per month. However, the Supreme Court of Pakistan has recently noted that the standard in existence is even lower: there are people who are on a salary of 7 to 9 thousand rupees monthly. But when the scribe of this piece of writing interviewed a worker at a hotel in Model Town, he revealed that other salaried employees are paid 5 to 12 thousand per month. Not to talk of rural and domestic workers, even urban are not protected by the minimum wage standard.

The vast swathes of the population are living in near or abject poverty. More and more people are quietly slipping below the poverty line. The greatest challenge such people are facing is making both ends meet. Their lives centre on managing food, schooling, electricity and fuel. Most of them fight against hunger and malnutrition in their lifespan. For them sparing thoughts for an enviable future is allowable in just wild dreams.

Due to a total indifference to the needs of the impoverished by those at the helm, the ranks of the poor are swelling with every passing year. The posturing politicians and policymaking elites display disregard for the welfare of the majority of the population. That is why they come up with the legislation which can benefit them and their ilk to the exclusion of all others. Reducing general poverty has never been high on the agenda of any political party in the corridors of power. The construction of new roads, putting more buses on the roads, initiating youth business loan scheme are all useful steps, but none of them is meant to bring advantage to the armies of workers who survive on the minimum wage.

Even the so-called middle class is just a relatively better-off section of the society. They feel excruciatingly uncomfortable when the prices of everyday essentials skyrocket. Even they struggle to pay their bills. Their annual pay rise fails to match a high rate of inflation. Therefore, their living standards too have plummeted.

Our state is unconcerned. The issue of economic failure concerns the elected representatives only peripherally. They are not bestirring themselves to give each citizen his or her due rights – the rights which are enshrined in law. Article 38 of the Constitution terms the fulfilling of basic needs of each individual the obligation of the state.

 
The government’s interest lies in pillorying the army and the implementation of Article 6; the common people have no concern whether the generalissimo is let off or penalized. All they crave is a financial status of sorts in society.

Vocabulary through tweets

8 April 2014

•    Musharraf is accused of the subversion of the Constitution.

subversion: trying to destroy or damage

•    Musharraf’s best hope lies in decamping from the country on one pretext or the other.

decamping from: leave suddenly

10 April 2014

•    He was accepted to a top-notch university in the UK.

top-notch: excellent

•    The school tries to hammer home the importance of homework.

hammer home: emphasize

11 April 2014

•    Violence and instability are blighting the nuclear-armed state
blight: ruin; damage

12 April 2014

•    The propensity to try the former strongman in the media as well as the courts should be resisted.

propensity: tendency

•    John Kerry's determined concentration on peace talks has ended not in a bang but a whimper
bang: a sudden loud noise.

whimper: a low weak cry

15 April 2014

•    Intemperate statements of the ministers have antagonized the army.

intemperate: too extreme; immoderate
antagonize: make hostile; provoke

•    Khawaja Asif pilloried the army in 2006.

pilloried: criticize strongly in public

•    Every Afghan poll since 2001 has been tainted (=damage; spoil) by fraud.

taint: damage; spoil

16 April 2014

•    Gen Raheel Sharif is neither laidback like Kayani nor reckless like Musharraf.

laidback: calm and relaxed
reckless: disregarding the consequences

•   South Africa under Mandela could work together with erstwhile white supremacists.


supremacist: an advocate of the supremacy of a particular group 

Tax avoidance in Pakistan

In Pakistan, an insignificant number of people with taxable income pay tax.

1.      Legislators and tax delinquency

The FBR (Federal Board of Revenue) – a state-owned agency –revealed towards the end of the last year that nearly half Pakistani legislators did not pay their tax. Many legislators are not registered with tax authorities. A minuscule amount is deducted from the legislators’ salaries but they, almost all of them, are running lucrative private businesses.

2.      Poor tax collection

Less than one per cent of people file income tax returns in Pakistan. The situation in India is better where 4.7 per cent pay income tax. The French pay 58 per cent and the Canadians pay 80 per cent.

3.      The rich let off the hook

The PML-N’s talk of bringing the rich into the tax net has failed to produce any noticeable result on broadening the tax base. Despite all its efforts, only a few hundred more people filed the tax return voluntarily.

Last year, the government introduced a scheme for whitening the black money. Even though the government offered exemption from surcharges, penalties, audit and questions about the source of money, the incentive scheme did not induce those with taxable income to pay tax.

4.      Taxpayers shrinking

What is more troubling is the fact that the ranks of taxpaying people are shrinking every year. In 2011, 1.4m people filed returns. But in 2013 there were only about 84,000 taxpayers whom the FBR could trace to their homes or workplaces. Towards the end of last year, the FBR witnessed a tax shortfall of over 130bn rupees.

5.      Evil effects of tax avoidance

As successive governments do not collect tax revenues efficiently, they take loans from international donor agencies. The donors give loans with stringent conditions of increasing revenue. So the Pakistani governments increase indirect tax on items like fuel – a move which shifts burdens onto the poor and middle class while the rich are always let off.

6.      Why a crackdown on tax evasion is avoided

Nearly half of all Pakistani lawmakers dodge tax, and more than one in ten lawmakers are not registered with tax authorities. Most of the taxpayers who are in national and provincial assemblies seem dishonest. A small amount of money is deducted from their salaries, but almost all of them have lucrative second careers which they do not reveal.

A corrupt person lacks moral courage. As the parliamentarians do not pay taxes honestly, they have lost the moral courage to impose it on the rich. That is why the government has failed to put into practice its claims of broadening the tax base and taxing the affluent.

7.      Who pays taxes happily?

Indeed, paying tax willingly is a hard thing. Even people in the most civilized countries are not happy to pay tax. Some of them seek ways to avoid the payment of tax, but their governments have made efficient systems where they are made to pay taxes.

A vast majority of the parliamentarians in Pakistan are crooked. The bureaucrats working under them are corrupt like their bosses. Corruption has infiltrated even in the law courts, where one is supposed to get justice. The common people of Pakistan complain that every department of the government is riddled with corruption.