LETTER: This is a propos a Business Recorder op-ed "Plight of Pakistan's primate city" carried by the newspaper yesterday. The writer, Dr Hafiz A Pasha has presented a highly informed and objective perspective on the country's primate city. According to him, for example, "almost 56 percent of the revenues of FBR were collected from Karachi. This amounts to a contribution of almost Rs 2200 billion. In effect, the tax-to-GDP ratio of the city is over three times the national average. Of course, over 85 percent of taxes levied on imports are collected from Karachi port. But what is not fully appreciated is that the city yields almost 42 percent of revenues from income tax and 37 percent from the domestic sales tax on industry."
The writer has sought to draw some lessons between Mumbai and Karachi to advance his argument. Here, I wish to state that Greater Mumbai Municipal Corporation's budget is larger than that of 9 state governments' budget. Unlike Karachi, however, Mumbai acts as a prism through which foreign investors tend to look at India.
R.C. DUBEY (DUBAI)
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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