Tax allergy

Traders and shopkeepers went on a shutter down strike last week against the FBR’s ‘trader friendly scheme’, finding it rather trader-unfriendly. The Jamaat-e-Islami chief was supportive of the strike and has himself been on the road for some time, protesting against K-Electric and exorbitant electricity bills without any success. Now he has come out with a longer list of demands against price hikes, exorbitant electric bills and taxation etc. Taking advantage of the situation, the JUI-F has also jumped on the bandwagon. The PTI has also hinted at joining in.

Recently, I was listening to a press conference by a leader of traders who was narrating his experiences of giving ‘bhata’ to a political party amounting to millions on demand. When asked why he did not refuse, he laughed and said ‘who wants to die?’. And now the same trader was holding a press conference against paying a nominal sum as tax to the government. Everyone who does not want to pay tax, including traders, agriculturalists, doctors, engineers, politicians, have joined hands against the government and several parties are looking to gain some political advantage out of this.

Malik ul Quddoos

Karachi