Re: If you became the leader of pakistan tomorrow…
You realise you’re emphasising a system based wholly on indirect taxes? How is that supposed to bring relief to the poor? At least with income tax you have your income bands and tax rates set accordingly. If it were down to me I would try to invest all resources into bringing the income tax system up to scratch and bringing the self employed under the tax net. I’d make sure property tax was properly implemented and tax the agricultural landlords too. At the same time, I’d try to eliminate sales tax or any other form of value added tax from basic necessities (food, clothing, fuel etc.). The vast majority of the country’s consumers are poor and are unfairly forced into paying the same amount of tax on their purchases as the rich.
Other stuff I would focus on would be infrastructure development in the form of providing good public transport systems in urban areas. A standardised bus transit system in each city with a rapid mass transit system in the form of underground/overground rail in cities. This would go some way in bringing down traffic and pollution levels.
I would rehaul the education system. Cut the army budget in half and divert the resources towards developing schools in every part of the country. I would propose a curriculum rehaul in accordance with the standards required of education today around the world.
Of course to ensure all this the first step would be a major revamp of all government institutions. The Federal Board of Revenue has made some progress in terms of automating the filing of returns and making the process easier but there is a long way to go yet and that can only be achieved with the right personnel. Inefficient resource hogging institutions like Pakistan Railways and PIA would have to go through major restructuring to set them on the path to recovery. Again all this requires the hiring of people at merit and not waasta. This would also effectively deal with the deep rooted problem of nepotism in government institutions.
Lastly, I would try make the judicial system truly independent and ensure the enforcement of every decision made by the courts of Pakistan. I would also bring about land reforms to start rooting out the feudal system.
Edit: Forgot to mention. Enforce child labour laws with an iron fist. No kid to ever be seen in a workplace when he/she should be attending a public school. Any employer of a child labourer, or of any form of bonded labour should be sentenced and fined heavily.