“You know what the real issue in this country is?” “There are so many that…” “Think hard. What stands out? What do all the stakeholders lament while, without any exceptions, blaming it all on their predecessors and…”

“The economy!? But foreign direct investment inflows as envisaged by the Special Investment Facilitation Committee…”

“And hopefully SIFC will succeed, though I hope they hire good lawyers to vet the contracts, not like those signed between 2013 to 2017…”

“Well, Nawaz Sharif’s narrative remains that he delivered electricity to the country during those years, though you and I know that the contractual obligations agreed are not affordable at present…”

“Well he has abandoned that in favour of anti-establishment rhetoric, I mean as long as Notification Maryam Nawaz bad-mouthed the establishment she got huge crowds – now she is hard-pressed to mobilise a few hundred and is being forced to redefine jalsas to corner meetings…”

“He is bad-mouthing past establishment my friend, past establishment, and as we are an individual centric country the current establishment…”

“I hear you but given Nawaz Sharif’s past history I am sure it is making some decisions makers nervous.”

“Perhaps, but the economy is not what I was referring to when I asked you what the real issue was in this country.”

“If not the economy, then what? The lack of a level playing field?”

“I simply cannot understand this focus on a level playing field. I mean, even in cricket, we manage to play on a field that has mounds and knolls and hillocks.”

“Don’t be facetious. The head of the Cricket Board is Zardari sahib’s man now so the field has been leveled…the former Nawaz Sharif, the Man Who Shall Remain Nameless, made a hash of it, and now it’s the turn of the…”

“Don’t be facetious, anyway speaking of Nameless how is the Man Who Must, as opposed to Shall, Remain Nameless.”

“That brings me to the real issue facing this country and I would propose that the government considers taxing it because there is a lot of money that can flow into our national coffers if my advice is heeded. Tax that is based on the ability to pay principle rather than on ease of collection, as is the focus today…”

“What?”

“Space is the real issue. There is lack of political space, there is lack of fiscal space, there is lack of any space in adjusting government expenditure, there is no space in adjusting …”

“How will you go about it?”

“Say the man Who Must Remain Nameless wants the space to keep the party emblem, tax him 2 percent of the declared income of the party, say Nawaz Sharif wants to continue to be in favour with the stakeholders’ tax him 2 percent of his party’s income and Zardari sahib wants a level playing field get him to remit 2 percent of his party’s declared income and that would activate a bulldozer to level the field.”

“Wouldn’t there be a possibility of cross purposes?”

“Perhaps, but our managers are adept at cross subsidies, so what’s a cross purpose for them!”

“Don’t be facetious.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023