‘Unless there’s political input’ Budget will be ‘by the babus, for the babus and of the babus,’ says Bilawal

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has said that unless and until there is political input, the budget will be “by the babus, for the babus and of the babus”.

“Without political input, the budget will by the babus, for the babus and of the babus. And we have to put an end to this tradition. If there is no political input, your budget will not work. The relief you want to give to the people won’t be possible. The ground realities that you [politicians across the board] know, none of the ‘babu’ in Islamabad know about them,” the PPP chairman expressed these views while speaking on Budget-2024-25 in the National Assembly on Tuesday.

He said that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was used on political grounds. He said that it is the party’s manifesto to abolish NAB and the biggest supporters of it may also approve of this step. He claimed that the NAB is an organisation that harms political institutions and democracy.

“We realised that the NAB and the Pakistani economy cannot coexist. The NAB was used for political gains. The bureaucrat puts his pen down out of fear of the NAB. Businessmen too choose to run. It is in our manifesto and that of the other parties to abolish NAB. We do not need to send our opponents to prison to further our politics. If the step to discontinue NAB is finally taken, then it will benefit the country, its economy and democracy,” he said.

The PPP chairman said that PM Shehbaz Sharif in his previous tenure as both the PM and Opposition Leader talked about a “Charter of Economy”. He said that without such a charter and consensus, we cannot address the long-term problems Pakistan is riddled with.

“The government would have to talk to benches on either of its sides. We should not only send our people and the business community this message, but also to the international community that the country has devised a ten or twenty-year long economic plan to be followed by those in the government, regardless of political affiliation. This would be the first step towards economic progress,” he said.

The PPP chairman said that when it was first decided by the PPP to support this government and PM Sharif, an agreement took place between the two parties. He said that according to the agreement, the budget and related decisions including the PSDP should have been made with the consultation of the PPP.

“Unfortunately, this prerequisite was not fulfilled and the members of the PPP believe that they would have contributed positively to the process. A consultation and resultant consensus would have produced a better outcome,” he said.

He said that that his advice to the PM and Finance Minister would have been to invite the allies as well as the opposition to collaborate. “In this manner, those in the opposition too would contribute instead of protesting alone. This would have been a political victory as well as an economic one,” he said.

He said that a politician would never suggest taxing milk or stationery in a country with a 40 per cent stunting rate and where 26 million children are out of school, but this would be a “babu’s” suggestion. He said that inflation is the most pressing concern in the country. He said that the BISP is the sole tool for the federal government to provide relief to the people, which we witnessed during the catastrophic floods.

Bilawal said that the PPP’s political philosophy revolves around progressive taxation. He said that every government claims that it wishes to increase the tax base and would burden the rich, not the poor. He said if we wish to expand the tax base, we should engage in competitive taxation and not punitive taxation.

“Unfortunately, every budget stresses on indirect taxation and not direct taxation of the rich and the mighty companies. The burden of the indirect taxation is carried by the common man. In this budget too, 75 to 85 per cent of our tax regime is indirect taxes. When this is the case, then suffice to say, we are not passing a poor and people-friendly budget. The common people will carry the most burden, whereas, we should make decisions that redirect this burden towards the rich. In the province of Sindh, we are not only expanding our collection but also the base. We try to have competitive tax rates as compared to other provinces and simultaneously, we do not use the NAB, FIA or Anti-Corruption to threaten the business community. We try coaxing them into the tax net, and we have seen this strategy be successful,” he said.

Bilawal said that when the sales tax on services was devolved, each province formed its own revenue board. He said that the performance of these provinces, including the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan has been better than the federal institution, FBR. “The federal government still collects sales tax on goods. If it wishes not to devolve it, it should at least give the provinces the responsibility to collect the tax for the federal government. We can set a target collaboratively; the amount would go directly to the government. If the provinces miss the target, then they would compensate for it from their own budget. However, if the collection is in surplus, then the additional amount can be kept by the provinces. This is a win-win solution and can be implemented for a year or two as an experiment at least.”

“The Pakistani state gives Rs1,500 billion worth of indirect subsidies to the fertiliser companies. However, there has been no implementation on redirecting these subsidies to the poor farmers instead. We appeal to the PM to take a step towards implementing this, and the PPP will stand with the government to combat the big lobbies. This will bring an economic revolution,” he said.

Bilawal expressed his gratitude to the finance minister for praising the Sindh government’s public-private partnership initiatives that are a success story. It is a success that was born out of necessity. He said that the IT sector which is a pivotal concern, especially for the young population. He said that every modern device is taxed, and it becomes out of reach for the people. He said that the infrastructure of today is not motorways or highways alone, it is the fastest internet broadband speed from the mountains of Gilgit to the port of Gwadar. This can be achieved through public-private partnership, he said.

The PPP chairman said that it is our advice to the government to invest in the agricultural sector. He said that our farmers need our support. “If we give even half of that support to our farmers, not only can we outperform our neighbours but also address the food insecurity crisis worldwide. Unfortunately, we have taken the bureaucratic approach to burden this sector further when there is growth. In our opinion, we should devise ways to support them instead.”

Bilawal said that a long-standing concern for the PPP in its manifesto has been climate change. As a result of this, the people of the country have to bear losses, he said.“We have to make development projects in PSDP by keeping climate change as the priority so that Pakistan can adapt to the upcoming climate crises.”

He said that the energy crisis is also a pressing concern. He said that the PPP in its manifesto incorporated the decision to move towards solar and renewable energy. In this sector too, there are strong lobbies present in the country that do not allow us to expand. Instead of hydrocarbons and imported energy, we should focus on domestic energy. He said that we should sit and collectively decide to install free solar panels for the poor and give them on subsidised rates to those that cannot afford it. If the federal government and provinces collaboratively work to bring forward this project, then it can aid greatly in addressing the energy problems, he said.

He said that we have initiated the successful Thar Coal Project, it has been discovered that it is one of the most efficient and affordable means of energy. He appreciated the government’s step to include in the budget the amount for the gasification to supply energy to those areas that produce gas.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024