Re: National Budget for fiscal year 2007-08
Hanibal, your argument seem to be based on the assumption that everyone pays their taxes and utility bills in Pakistan. GST is a recent phenomenon, not even a decade old and it was imposed mainly due to dishonesty of people not paying their taxes.
GST however is not the only tax people in other countries pay.
The only people who pay taxes are the salaried govt employees whose tax is deducted from paycheck. Then there are a few private concerns who follow the same principle.
Fact is most Pakistanis dont pay any taxes.
Low voltage and load shedding is the result of what? The small percentage of people who do pay their bills honestly are the ones who suffer. You know even in bigger cities like Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Pindi and Peshawar people by pass meters. The low voltage is the direct result of people A/C bypassing the meter. They use more juice than their transformer can supply and their electricity bills only represent the amount of electricity consummed by running the water pump. This chori is more rampant in rural areas. Ask people in tribal areas and most of NWFP.
Yes common man is forced for corruption, but not due to poverty but his greed.
One point that I failed to touch on from your earlier post was about the need for strong institutions. I whole heartedly agree. We need stronger institutions, but then again who makes these institutions? You, me and people exactly like us. The reasons we do not have strong institutions is because we are ourselves corrupt. We like to blow the moral horn when it comes to others but when it comes to us we are the first ones to bribe the electrician to bypass our airconditioners.
The day we fix ourselves, things will start changing.