As the government scrambled to meet the IMF-imposed deadline for the imposition of a value-added tax (VAT) of October 1, the central government got the Sindh government to agree on the modalities of how to impose the tax on services. The agreement centred on the tax on services, particularly the construction and banking sectors, being collected by the Federations CBR, through an authorisation by the provincial government of a federal organisation. This was the result of the agreement, reached in a meeting of the federal and provincial authorities on Monday and disclosed at a press conference by the Federal Finance Secretary, that the provinces would collect GST on services which had no input adjustment, and included no cross-provincial transaction. Further, CBR will collect GST on services in all provinces except Sindh. The agreement has come at the same time that the Federal Bureau of Statistics disclosed that inflation went up by 18.68 percent in the last week, when measured against last years prices, on the Sensitive Price Index. It has been generally agreed that the revised GST would be inflationary, and the only voices of dissent have got no arguments beyond the mere assertion. The decision to impose this tax is particularly inappropriate in view of the worst-ever monsoon floods in the nations history, which have already made an inflationary situation even more inflationary. To add to the burdens of the common man, is not just to display a supreme callousness, but also to actively instigate a conflagration. However, the IMF does not care what the consequences are for ordinary Pakistanis so long as it can carry out its agenda of ensuring the subjection of the Pakistani economy to it. Policymakers should also have kept in mind the effects of the increase in international oil prices, and the effect this will have both on inflation and the import bill, which has already increased 25.28 percent over last year in the first two months of the current fiscal. This subjection is more because of the domination of the IMF in the decision-making circles of the country, and is closely related to the countrys continued participation in the war on terror. If the only course open, telling the IMF where to get off, involves abandoning the war on terror, the government should go ahead. At least it will be more popular than the present policy. The people of Pakistan do not want to pay for a war which they have not chosen, nor do they want to share any of the burdens of the American taxpayer, in whose name the current war is being fought, and for whom so many Pakistanis have already been sacrificed.