Who Owns Pakistan - Yimg

Epilogue
For several years, the people and govt of Pakistan are living at two opposite
horns of an economic dilemma. While the people are groaning under the heavy
burden of taxes, mostly paid indirectly in the form of sales tax, excise tax,
developmental surcharge and above all, by way of graft and corruption, the govt
and CBR keep bemoaning that in Pakistan nobody pays taxes. Both are right
because only a fraction of the amount paid by the people reaches the govt
coffers.
Like development, corruption trickles down and bubbles up, and Pakistan excels
in corruption at the top and the grassroots, in public sector and private, in
corporations big and small. The federal govt in Pakistan employs 950,000
people, four provincial govts 1.8 million, Sindh alone is believed to have ten
percent ghost employees. Army was helping the Punjab govt in identifying ghost
schools in the province.
WAPDA is Pakistan's biggest employer, Pakistan Railways second biggest, CBR
is at number three. They have same ranking on the scale of corruption.
Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources award contracts worth dollars one
billion per annum for import of crude and petroleum products and is responsible
for the utilization of development surcharge worth Rs 30-35 billion collected on
petroleum products and natural gas. It was no coincidence that the largest cases
of corruption found by the caretaker govt of Meraj Khalid related to the Ministry of
Petroleum and Natural Resources.
The increasing number of fraud cases in rebates and duty drawbacks amounting
to Rs 20 billion per annum and large-scale smuggling of goods through the
custom check posts at Torkam, Susst, Wagah and Tuftan only give a measure of
the graft that greases the palm of the people in CBR and its subordinate
departments.
There are literally thousands of exemptions incorporated in the system for the
rich and the privileged. There are 180 exemptions from payment of income tax
alone. The exemption to capital gain first announced in 1975 has been extended
five times and will now expire in 2002. Tax holiday for industry was first
announced for a period of 2 years in 1959 and is now available in 49 industrial
estates.
Both Benazir and Nawaz Sharif championed transparency in privatization and at
least 90 industrial units and several financial institutions have been privatized.
Starting with Muslim Commercial Bank, the first unit to be privatized till Kot Addu
Power privatized by Bhutto at the fag end of her govt, there are very few units
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