Watching Poverty Grow

Re: # 147.From Tahmed post,''Larry Summers was there in the panel, and he posed a question to him: How many people have you sent to jail for non-compliance with tax codes?''
I think there is no accountabilty at all,they all create NAB etc but then they don't punish real criminals and elite who are responsible for all this mess.

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Re: # 151RiazH..thats ok,sounds good but then what happens to all that money,every time there is a new regime in Pakistan the first thing they declare,''COUNTRY IS BANKRUPT'' and their begging bowel starts floating around the globe?

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Re: # 147
Pakistan made a lot of progress since 1999 (Sartaj Aziz) in revenue collection when Shaukat Aziz appointed Abdullah Yousuf as the nation's chief tax collector.

Yusuf's key accomplishments included doubling of the revenue collection to achieve an aggressive target of over Rs 1.04 trillion in 2007-08; implementation of broad-based reforms within the tax system; universal self-assessment regimes; paperless customs clearances and e-filing systems and customer responsiveness with the business trade and bodies for creating a friendly business environment. Before Mr. Yusuf's reforms, the tax collection bureaucracy in Pakistan was notoriously corrupt and inefficient and he faced a lot of internal resistance. It improved significantly during Yusuf's tenure according to a lot of anecdotal evidence I have heard.

But as soon as the PPP government took over, he was disgracefully fired while he was out of the country attending a customs conf.
Riaz Haq, PakAlumni Worldwide

Re: # 144Hi Tahmed...The problem with Jinnah concept of secular Pakistan was that that all the leaders who took power twist his ideas according to their political needs,classic examples are of ZAB AND Zia,ZAB used to make his ideas as socialist and Zia made him and sound like mullah,ZAB had some sincere bones for the nation and the country but rest of those who took power never cared about the nation.I read somewhere that military censored first speech of jinnah,I don't if its true or not and may be if RIAZHAQ reading this post can Google and verify it....lol

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Re: # 147
Reflecting on my experience at the Income-Tax department in Karachi I can tell you that tax-evasion and bribery is endemic. Those who start off with a determination to abide by the rules are the worst sufferers. Most of them give up and indulge in the customary practise of beating the system. Wealthy are above the law although rules exist for imprisonment of evaders.

Re: # 146
Tahmed32
Wahabism worldwide turning into terrorism worldwide is a story of oil-wealth in the hands of ignorant, medieval Saudis and some other Arabs. Their influence runs deeper than their oil money in the sunni religious discourse. The non-arab muslims value the Arab interpretation of Islam as a political force without noticing the religious part that such interpretation totally killed.

malikrashid #145 back in the 1990's i attended a seminar where Sartaj Aziz (pakistani finance minister) was recounting measures being taken to increase revenue collection. Larry Summers was there in the panel, and he posed a question to him: How many people have you sent to jail for non-compliance with tax codes? I dont recall Sartaj sahibs response, but I thought it was a good question.

Khyber #131 not only is the number of books published in the muslim world small - the quality of what is written is not worth the paper it is written on (particularly the crap put out by the "ulema").

more significantly, it struck me when visiting Jeddah that there was no book store either at the airport or in the city!! all they had were shops selling tawdry "luxuries" (entire shops for perfumes, luggage). i bet Rawalpindi alone has more book stores than all of Saudi Arabia. And yet - it is to these jahils that so many pakistanis look to as being incapable of doing anything wrong.

Re: # 143
Tahmed32
Agriculture makes up 22% of GDP and revenue collected from that sector is below 1%. Interact #6 states India's revenue at 17% compared to Pakistan's 9% for 2008-09. This is a huge difference and speaks for the present financial in-capability of the country.

Khyber #134 Jinnah did not leave behind any clear vision for Pakistan - all we have is his speeches calling for a secular Pakistan. But secular is just a start - but things have not been at a standstill. Pakistan is so far behind that the distance covered by other nations over the centuries - the US and UK in particular - has provided the unconscious basis for moving forward. Most strikingly as part of the lawyer's movement, where concepts of basic rights and the habeas corpus and proper elections were drilled home thanks to the "Second Jinnah" (the Chief Justice).

#137 malikrashid: the agriculture tax will go away once the urban population increases, and thus there are fewer landlords in the NA. at least that is my uneducated opinion.

#138 couldnt agree more. zardari, to his credit, is emphasizing opening up rich markets for pakistani trade. and to a limited extent that has taken place - with the creation of special trade zones in tribal areas as part of the strategy to give the locals a stake in the world economy.

Re: # 140
Instead of engaging in your wishful thinking about Pakistan's destruction, you should worry about a bloody revolution in your own country where hunger, poverty and rich-poor gap are growing.

India continues to lag behind Pakistan, Bangladesh, even most of sub-Saharan Africa in terms of basic nutrition by its own admission (See Indian planning commission member Syeda Hamid's statement), while you and your ilk play up the "Shining India" image and believe in your own BS.
Riaz Haq, PakAlumni Worldwide

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Re: # 138
Salaried individuals have no choice. They pay tax but the feudal lords have themseves exempt from income-tax. The demand to bring agriculture in the fold of taxation must be raised with a strong voice.

It's about time that we all realise that you cannot just run the country on foreign loans. People of Pakistan, should finance their own government, instead of making it dependent on foreign aid. If the people of Pakistan want their country to be successful like all European countries then they must pay tax to the government, because this is the only way to become independent of all other nations. It should start from Pakistani elite and wealthy politicians.


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Mwaqar