This is apropos a Business Recorder op-ed "Budget 2019-20 & tax reforms" carried by the newspaper yesterday. The writers, Huzaima Bukhari and Ikramul Haq, who are widely known as two top detractors of country's taxation system have made a fascinating argument about the broad contours of the upcoming budget and how the newly appointed Adviser on Finance and Economic Affairs Dr Hafeez Shaikh is likely to act in this regard.
According to them, "Budget 2019-20, expected to be announced in the last week of this month, will be very important for the coalition government of Pakistan Tahreek-i-Insaf (PTI). It will determine the direction of economy in the wake of another bailout agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and action plans for tax reforms under a new World Bank's US$400-million- project....Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs, who replaced Asad Umar on April 20, 2019 in the coming budget will toe the line of IMF and WB and not what PTI promised in its election manifesto. The important question is, will he also rely on bureaucrats who so far have successfully captivated/trapped the PTI government? They skillfully manage all the governments and PTI has proved not an exception; by disconnecting the leaders from masses and convince them to defer the fundamental structural/institutional reforms as these would end their controls, benefits, perks, perquisites and privileges. The IMF and WB are also not interested in such reforms empowering the masses and simplifying the tax system...."
Their argument constitutes a sardonic comment on our lackluster approach to economic challenges. Things will only worsen.