Our country has finally received another lifeline from the IMF and friendly countries. The IMF made the government take tough steps before they agreed to release the interim package. Among others, these steps included increasing the tax burden on the salaried class and increasing the interest rate to an all-time high of 22%. However, I am afraid that these measures to curb spending on the instructions of the IMF might not work. The main reason behind this is that more than 75% of our economy is undocumented.

Only a handful of people pay taxes, and most of the money-rich sectors are either based on a cash system with no way to measure their real worth or are exempt from the tax net under one pretext or another. For example, the agriculture sector in our country has never been brought under the tax net or documented for tax purposes. While small farmers can’t even make ends meet, the big landlords and others hiding their money under the pretext of agriculture are filthy rich. Similarly, there are less than two million taxpayers in a country with a population of about 230 million. 

RAJA SHAFAATULLAH,

Islamabad.