This is apropos a Business Recorder op-ed "All stand fully exposed" carried by the newspaper yesterday. The writers, Huzaima Bukhari and Dr Ikramul Haq, have argued that "The only losers are the poor and helpless of this Land of Pure, who are burdened with exorbitant indirect taxes and yet get nothing in return. The rich and mighty enjoy all luxuries of life at the expense of taxpayers whereas nearly 60 million are compelled to live below the poverty line."
Noted American writer and public intellectual Gore Vidal had famously said, that "The genius of our ruling class is that it has kept a majority of people from ever questioning the inequality of a system where most people drudge along, paying heavy taxes for which they get nothing in return."
Insofar as Pakistan's case is concerned, there is absolutely no culture of questioning the unfairness of the system under which the mighty or affluent segments of society pay little or no taxes. In Pakistan, we have a system that increasingly taxes the taxed and subsidises the non-taxed.
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