PM Khan assures taxpayers of the country that the money will be spent on their welfare

Muscat: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan recently honoured the taxpayers of the country and said that they were the true VIPs.
While addressing the award distribution ceremony, PM Khan said the government would ensure that their taxes would not be spent on the extravagance of the ruling party but for the means of the public.
Referring to the people who don’t pay taxes, PM Khan said “Like Darwin’s theory of ‘Survival of Species’ that calls for adaptability, Pakistan will have to change itself. Around 1.7 million income tax filers cannot bear the burden of a 210 million population.” He continued saying that as a result, “we put the burden on those who can’t handle it through imposing indirect taxes which is unfair.”
He added that “it is a great injustice that the Imran Khan will have to pay the same tax on things like petrol and diesel as a daily-wage labourer.”
Moreover, he mentioned that only 72,000 people had declared their earnings of Rs200,000 million per month, which the PM Khan said that is it understandable why people hesitate from paying their taxes because of their concern that their money fully utilised to uplift the lower segments of the society.
“Scandinavian countries rich people contributed fifty percent in their GDP with regular payment of taxes. They knew it very well that their tax money would be spent judiciously and trickle down to the lower segments of society without ending on the rulers. Unfortunately, Pakistan has the lowest percentage of tax, and honestly, I don’t even know how much it is – 12, 11 or 10 per cent?”, Khan said.
He added that the state of Madina had laid down the concepts of equitable distribution of wealth among the people which Pakistan had not adopted. He emphasised on the most important element which was the collection of Zakat – collect money from rich and spend on the welfare of the masses.
“This system where you collect money from the rich segments of the society and distribute it equally among the one who can’t afford it is known as progressive tax system which in fact is adopted by the European and Scandinavian countries.”
He added that he does not believe in raising the tax rate but prefers widening the tax net.
“We have already started cutting off the expenditure, and I have told my cabinet to reduce their expenditures by 10 per cent. Whereas, I have reduced expenditures of Prime Minister House by 30 per cent while saving about Rs150million so far. I live in my own house and spend money from my own pocket," Khan said.
He pointed out that is very unfortunate to see that on one hand there were not enough medical facilities for the poor in the country, and on the other, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his family members and his party (PML-N) leaders tended to go abroad for their medical treatment.
"Taxpayers' money is not for our personal indulgence. I will assure the people who pay taxes that that their money would be spent on their own welfare.”
Khan highlighted that the government was making efforts to develop a tax-paying culture, and once the system is fixed, he hoped that the country's annual tax revenue would rise to Rs8 trillion.