This is apropos a Business Recorder op-ed “Only some bold steps can help govt fix the economy” carried by the newspaper yesterday. The writer, Ali Khizar, has presented an interesting perspective on the country’s economy.

He has argued, among other things, that “Pakistan must run fiscal surplus for many years to make the debt sustainable, and the socioeconomic cost of it would be too high for the people of Pakistan to bear. The current fiscal year budget is a manifestation of it.

The government is testing the limits of those being taxed. There are risks of social unrest and perhaps FY25 is not the first or the last year where newer harsher measures are being taken”. While agreeing to the point he has made I would like to say that social unrest, albeit sporadic, is quite visible in various parts of the country.

Unfortunately, the budget for the ongoing fiscal year has the potential to galvanize itself disaffection among people in the next few months, if not weeks. The new taxation measures are largely bereft of human face insofar as the plight of the salaried class in particular is concerned.

How ironic it is that while finance minister Mohammad Aurangzeb says he empathizes with the salaried class, he has nothing to offer them so as to ease their concerns and hardships. It is said that poverty is a violation of human rights; in my view, however, higher unjust taxes too constitute a gross violation of human rights. Last but not least, the incumbent finance minister is unnecessarily trying to be too clever by half.

Madhia Salman Khan

Karachi

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024