Bakhtawar Bibi (literally the lucky one),34, sat alert as if guarding her possessions. She looked dirty and tired sitting on the roadside of Khayaban-e- Hafiz, a main road in posh Defence Housing Society in Karachi.
Some bags of wheat flour, sugar and a tin of oil were heaped together beside her.
She said she was waiting for her husband to carry home the stuff she collected from distribution made by some residents of the area there. “Sahib and begums brought lorry full of essentials and distributed it free amongst us. May God bless them”, she told Dawn.
She, however, was not alone. There was in fact quite a crowd of her likes that dotted about a kilometre patch of the road. The rush made crossing that area difficult as it took us half an hour to drive through to cover a five minute distance on a car. These poor people from low income areas come in groups at that spot every year in expectations of dole outs, as some people there confirmed. Whatever was distributed there in cash and kind may not be enough but was sufficient to magnetise people to converge at that point. As a young man who was there with his family said: “We did not get much but it was enough to make the trouble of journey and a long wait worth its while”.
It was 27th of the holy month of Ramadan, a time when Muslims are generally sensitised to the plight of less fortunate and are inclined towards generosity. The motivation at this time of the year is particularly religious. Islam obligates Muslims to give Zakat at the start of the year. Mind it, this was not the only place where donations are made. In Karachi alone there are hundreds of places, mosques, shrines and parks where faithful gather to distribute and collect.
The concept of sharing wealth and helping the needy is not Pakistan specific. The goal of sharing and distributive justice in modern world is addressed primarily by the governments. Governments generate resources through taxation not only to cover the cost of governance but also to redistribute a country’s wealth for a more inclusive development.
What a progressive taxation policy, therefore, does is to tax the rich and spend resources so generated not just on those taxed but on the society at large including those who are not capable to contribute in the pool. And socially responsible citizens pay what is their due. The visible surge in philanthropic activity in Pakistan, however, is peculiar for two reasons. One, the quantum of donations are abnormally high. Two, the level of tax compliance is in the country very low. According to an estimate, Pakistanis spend nothing less than Rs90 billion on philanthropy a year. This goes to explain the heightened activity of donation based organisations during Ramadan. Philanthropic organisations launch sort of campaigns to get zakat and other donations ahead of Ramadan. One gets to see and read moving messages, images and appeals in the form of advertisement in newspapers, television, billboards, leaflets and banners to mobilise funds for different causes.
The aggressive campaigns generate lot of activity but must also be very costly. There was no aggregate estimate available as to ascertain the total cost on these campaigns but there is little doubt that it involves a huge budget.
Such investments could only be made when returns expected are also good. From what one gathered after talking to a score of people patronising some such philanthropic organisations in most instances collections bypass expectations of the organizers.
Several thousand organizations big and small in education, health and other social activities including big names such Edhi Foundation, SUIT, Al Khidmat, Al Khalq, etc. are all financed by donations. Despite the spread of the sector and quantity of donations, no official study has ever been conducted to study the phenomenon. As a matter of fact it was not clear in Islamabad as to which ministry or division could shed some light on the economics of philanthropy.
The latest study that was available was concluded seven years back by the Agha Khan Foundation. According to the report, Pakistanis gave out Rs70 billion in monetary donations, volunteer time and gifts in kind in the year 1998. An institute by the name of Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy is functional in Islamabad but their studies so far have more been focused on identifying the philanthropic patterns, motivations of the propertied classes and their motivations and barriers. The lady officer at the centre told Dawn that they do not have any firmed up numbers to quantify the total donations in a year.
At the other end, the taxation regime is not progressive (tax burden is not proportionate to financial standing of citizens). The elite still seemed reluctant to pay even that little. The country hardly collects Rs182 billion in direct taxes, contributing hardly 15 per cent to total revenue generated in a year.
As income disparity has increased the rich 20 per cent controls more than 60 per cent of the country’s resources but their contribution to the national exchequer is miniscule. This can be used to prove the elite of Pakistan as socially reckless. The question that crops up is: why socially irresponsible tax evaders suddenly become sensitised to the needs of less fortunate and donate so generously for social causes.
It is for sociologists and psychiatrist to shed light on behavioural patterns of the elite. For an economist the facts presented above, highlight the lack of trust of the propertied people on the government as provider of social services. It can also be interpreted as their vote of confidence on voluntary organisations. Before stretching the argument too far it would be better if the government or the development partners recognize philanthropy as an activity that merit some deeper probe.
People are not prepared to pay to the government if the tax money is not wisely spent. The government will have to earn the image of an efficient service provider before it succeeds in its taxation efforts.
Bakhtawar Bibi (literally the lucky one),34, sat alert as if guarding her possessions. She looked dirty and tired sitting on the roadside of Khayaban-e- Hafiz, a main road in posh Defence Housing Society in Karachi.
