THE disclosure by Nadra that ‘Over 2m rich pay no taxes’ (Oct 4) is not a new thing in our country. It is a part of our culture and one who pays the tax is the black sheep in society. The irony is that we proudly let the people know that our rich, the filthy rich, are an exempted class, an elite class for whom the law of the country doesn’t exist or it doesn’t apply to them and they are above the law.
In every civilised and developed country all citizens are equal in the eyes of the law. A few years back when the son of the Queen of England was found overspeeding on a road, the law enforcer on duty fined him double the amount, saying if the Queen’s son breaks the law, what other citizens will do.
But in our country parliamentarians, government servants and personnel of armed forces are even exempted from paying the toll tax which the poor of this country have to pay almost on every major road, especially in the province of Punjab.
The worst example of which is the toll tax at entry and exist points of Phase V of the Defence Housing Authority, Lahore. It seems as if one is entering an area designated for the people different from the rest of the citizens of the city, only the elites living and enjoying the luxurious lifestyle of the Defense Housing Authority are exempted from paying this toll tax.
What a cruel joke with the citizens, the taxpayers of the country, the parallel of which is impossible to find in the world.
Under such an unfair, inequitable and unjust system of taxes, is there any question of being surprised to find out by Nadra that over two million rich in the country do not pay tax.
We, the taxpayers of this country, request Nadra to make public the names of these Pakistanis, along with the names of those who pay taxes. Once such a list is made public, the nation will be surprised to learn that its only the salaried class, whose tax is deducted at source, who pay income tax.
On top of this list will be the names of employees of multinational companies belonging to non-Muslims.
In the private sector organisations patriotic Pakistanis earning in the millions even don’t file their income tax returns. They live in expensive villas, travel in luxurious cars , frequently travel abroad, their children study in best educational institutions, their utility bills are beyond the imagination of the lay man of this country, but there exists no law to apprehend them.
It is hoped that Nadra has the record and data of two million tax thieves and as such will not hesitate going one step forward in the right direction of disclosing the names of those who have been sucking the blood of the poor of this country and are responsible for bringing the economy on the brink of collapse but are still roaming freely and exempted from paying certain taxes.
I request the federal and provincial governments to seriously look into the matter and find out the lapses in our tax-collecting system and abolish this class difference all over the country.
AAMIR AQILLahore