Cash for Vote

Excellent article Amin.

Hope you write more.

Farouq Taj

Bad as it may seem, even in Pakistan, there is certain level of accountability. A person cannot at his whim transfer funds from Government Account into his own.

So your contention that ``The tax revenues you propose will simply take money from hard working expatriates and deposit them in the bank accounts of civil servants`` will never happen.

I have suggested that the expatriates should be represented by members of the national assembly. I believe that most of the expatriate population is educated and understands the basis of western democracy. In such an event, the elected member will realize that he has to deliver on the promises (using the money efficiently for allocated purposes) or he will lose support of his electoral.

Resource losses in governments is not a new phenomena and is not restricted to countries in the developing countries. Yet I don`t see governments allowing its citizens not to pay their taxes. See taxes as an obligation in lieu of being the citizen of Pakistan. Expatriates have to take the high road of morality being the educated and privilaged class in a hope that resident Pakistanis follow.

Expatriate would show how to extract accountability from its representatives so that the resident Pakistani may be educated.

Finally, the tax collectors don`t divert offically paid taxes into their pockets. What does happen, currently, is that people who do not want to pay the correct amount of taxes (or those who do not know their rights) fall prey to the practise of paying off the tax collector. In this way the revenues are lost.

But being an educated expatriate, I do not forsee us falling victim of this.

Hope you are more favorably inclined towards paying your fair share. After all this is the least we can do for our country.