Stop extra aid to Pakistan unless tax reform is implemented: Britain
5 April 2013 6:35 AM IST
Britain should not increase aid to nuclear-armed Pakistan unless Islamabad tries to make its wealthy elite pay more taxes, British lawmakers recommended on Thursday.
Britain is due to double its assistance to Pakistan to £446 million ($675 million) in 2014-2015, making it the biggest recipient of British aid. But parliament’s International Development Committee said it was unfair for Britain to fund health and education projects unless Pakistan’s new government, due to be elected in May, tackles ‘rife’ corruption and tax evasion.
‘We cannot expect the people in the UK to pay taxes to improve education and health in Pakistan if the Pakistan elite is not paying income tax,’ the committee said in a report.
‘Pakistan’s rich do not pay taxes and exhibit little interest in improving conditions and opportunities for Pakistan’s poor.’
Citing figures from the Pakistan Board of Revenue, the committee said only 0.57 per cent of Pakistanis paid income tax last year, and that no one has been prosecuted for income tax fraud for at least 25 years. Less than 30 per cent of Pakistan’s members of parliament pay tax, it added. The committee said there was a ‘powerful case’ for continuing aid to Pakistan, a country with ‘real poverty.’
Britain is due to double its assistance to Pakistan to £446 million ($675 million) in 2014-2015, making it the biggest recipient of British aid. But parliament’s International Development Committee said it was unfair for Britain to fund health and education projects unless Pakistan’s new government, due to be elected in May, tackles ‘rife’ corruption and tax evasion.
‘We cannot expect the people in the UK to pay taxes to improve education and health in Pakistan if the Pakistan elite is not paying income tax,’ the committee said in a report.
‘Pakistan’s rich do not pay taxes and exhibit little interest in improving conditions and opportunities for Pakistan’s poor.’
Citing figures from the Pakistan Board of Revenue, the committee said only 0.57 per cent of Pakistanis paid income tax last year, and that no one has been prosecuted for income tax fraud for at least 25 years. Less than 30 per cent of Pakistan’s members of parliament pay tax, it added. The committee said there was a ‘powerful case’ for continuing aid to Pakistan, a country with ‘real poverty.’
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