PRIME Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar has shown a way out to help mitigate woes of the under-privileged segments of the society, which are affected much by unstoppable inflation and lack of economic opportunities. In a meeting with businessmen in Karachi, he urged the business community to “share their blessings” and “listen to each other” while advising them to avoid tax evasion for the nation’s collective good. The PM rightly pointed out ‘the blessings one gets are not for an individual but for shareholding — it is your choice whether you share in your family, home, neighbourhood, province, country or the subcontinent.”
The point that the Prime Minister highlighted has two dimensions – inability of haves to share their prosperity with have-nots and tax evasion by a majority of the affluent people. In the past, some good initiatives like ‘adopt an orphan’ or ‘adopt a family’ were launched, especially in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake of 2005. Under one such programme, politicians, businessmen and elected representatives supporting the government announced adoption of 4,000 families during a telethon for the purpose, committing to provide Rs. 6,000 per month donation for the family but not all of those making announcements fulfilled their pledges. There is immense scope for addressing the challenge of abysmal poverty if well-to-do individuals and companies show willingness to share their wealth with the poor and also invest in programmes to improve the lot of the local population. In this connection, we have been pointing out repeatedly that there was a need to channelize philanthropic activities as a study conducted back in 2016 by Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy showed Pakistanis give around Rs. 240 billion annually to charity. The Prime Minister also had a point when he said that tax evasion occurred because the “dispensation of money is not used correctly” and that “people rationalise that their money is not for flamboyant use by others”. In this backdrop, the Prime Minister gave an undertaking that they would tax the people and use the money for the underprivileged. One hopes the Prime Minister, during the short time available to him, would try to deliver on his pledge ensuring that his Government would not burden the common man and instead make the affluent pay.
