Tuition time in the parliament

The Leader of the Opposition in the Lower House proposed a Charter of Economy (CoE) to the government. In the next breath, he wanted the recently presented budget to be taken back being “anti-people”. Tax heavy it may well be and the opposition should do what opposition does. So far so good. But then the suggestions that followed proposing the Charter of Economy makes one wonder if Pakistan can do without one.

First of all, the former Punjab boss, on the behalf of entire opposition parties wants a 50 percent rise in salaries of government employees. He would do well to recall that the maximum yearly increase in salaries in the six PML-N presented budgets was 10 percent. Not even in the election year budget did they go beyond the customary 10 percent, but surely want the incumbents to go that route. One hopes this does not make way to the CoE.

Next in line of the wish list is reintroducing the tax exemption for those earning up to Rs100,000 a month. Only that the exemption was a mischief in a budget aimed at winning the then upcoming elections and later duly admitted by the then Finance Minister while campaigning for the general elections. This, after having taxed salaries class for five years in power – even those earning up to Rs40,000 a month. It appears that the opposition parties are eyeing early elections and want to help the ruling party to present an election year budget in the first year in power.

And then the audacity to ask for the energy prices to be revised back to levels seen in 2018. Little do they know that of all the problems facing the country’s economy, the energy mess stands out. It was the very addition of expensive power plants based on imported fuel with massively ill-planned purchase agreements, and the unwillingness to pass on gas prices, is what has primarily caused the dire situation today. Hundreds of billions of additional rupees are to be paid for those ill-planned power purchase agreements. Surely calls for a downward price revision – right?

And then comes the customary mention of health and education and how the federal government needs to up the ante on these social affairs. Need one remind that the leading opposition parties were the main architect of the whole devolution process, and at least one of them boasts of that, and rightly so, as its single biggest achievement. Short memories and all that, but do they require being sent a copy or two of the 18th amendment? Not that the party ruling the country today would have acted any different. The whole point is that while a CoE is much needed, what is needed more urgently is a refresher course on how (not) to run economies.