Why our rich don’t pay taxes for our miseries?

By Dr Muhammad Iqbal

Every kind of trouble – man-made or God-given – seems to have descended on Pakistan.

Earthquakes, floods, bombs, load shedding, violence, disease epidemics, wars, displaced refugees. You name it.

And yet, after each disaster, the government and a large portion of our society routinely start the “plea making” business: XYZ in $300 million Plea! ABC NGO in $300 million Aid Relief Appeal for Pakistan! Help Pakistan Fund! Save Pakistan Campaign! Donate and Feed Poor Pakistanis!, etc, etc.

An entire cottage industry of “Relief” services is now a permanent fixture in Pakistan.

The rich countries are begged again and again for aid money and “relief” for Pakistanis. But what most of us don’t realise is that the ‘rich’ countries, apart from oil-rich Arabs, are rich because of their citizens paying taxes.

A few quick questions come to mind:

• Why should rich countries’ citizens and their taxes pay for our miseries again and again?
• Why is our own society so unequally sharing the burden of taxes?
• Why is such inequity amongst the haves and have nots of Pakistan?
• Why only about 2% of the population controls the wealth of the rest of 98%?
• Why is the largest expense in Pakistan’s budget spent on an already rich, well-fed and luxuriously living Army?

Every Ramazan, there’s a huge rush of self congratulating pieces of news about how ‘generous’ Pakistanis are in terms of giving away Zakat and Ushr and stuff like that. It is, as if the rich quickly wash away their guilt by giving a pittance in Zakat and hope everything will be forgotten.

Across the board Taxation, equitable taxation, taxes on landlords and farm lords and feudal lords is the need of the hour.