Budget: The Taxing Task?
By the Editor

AMID persistent and endless trends of price-hike—the mid-week meeting between President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz—prima facie shows that the two leaders feel the heat, generated by the present economic situation—in Pakistan.

This high temperature—of-course is marked by skyrocketing price index of every-thing—as well as unemployment and poverty. Since, people are feeling hard pressed and therefore, the President has asked the Prime Minister to ensure presentation of a ‘people-friendly’ budget.

As far as rhetoric is concerned politicians and policy-makers—invariably phrase most of the budgets as—people-friendly irrespective of the fact whether or not these provide adequate relief to the masses.

By and large, the innocent citizens are all-the-more burdened in the cover of jugglery of words and figures. Anyhow, the directive by the President—to provide relief to the common man to enable him overcome his financial difficulties—is a welcome initiative.

We hope the pious intentions of the President would be given due consideration by the budget-makers.

From now-on, the presentation of the budget is only a matter of days and it would become crystal-clear as—to what extent the authorities concerned would accommodate the directive of the President.

While analyzing the current year—the reality which comes in sight is—unprecedented hike in cost of living in the wake of scandalous increases in the prices of sugar, cement and more exclusively those of the petroleum products—which in turn led to enhanced prices of all the commodities and services.

Virtually, the performance of the administrative machinery—also remained much below expectations on this account—as diverse mechanisms in place to control artificial price-hike, profiteering and hoarding proved to be—absolutely ineffective.

It is also a fact that—all other segments of the society proportionately rather disproportionately increase charges of their services to make amends for the rising cost of input and it is only the fixed income group that suffers.

Hence, it is imperative that while extending incentives to the salaried people and pensioners—both in the governmental and private sectors—the aged ones who are called; ‘Senior Citizens’—would, most especially shall get adequate relief with sizeable level of enhanced profit—for their investments—made by them in multiple schemes like Special Saving, Defence Certificates—as well as ‘Behbood’—which is meant only for the people—with age of Sixty-plus.

Such investments by retired people and widows—have been made with none else—but governments’ own set-up—known as the ‘National Savings’.

A better—rather best return on such investments [which remained intact with high rate of profit until early year of 2000]—when revived in the new Budget—with retrospective effect—shall give this deprived class a sigh of relief—as it would help commensurate with the cost of living.

At the same time—the Government should also focus on job-generation as this is the sure way to increase income of the people.

Towards this—the proposal of the President for initiation of projects and programmes for creating jobs at grass-roots level—must be fully reflected in the budget.

Provision of such opportunities at the local level has many advantages—which include; an effective check against migration of population from rural and far-flung areas to urban centres, socio-economic uplift of the backward areas and removal of sense of deprivation and non-participation that prevails in these areas.

Amidst this fiscal milieu—we pragmatically feel optimistic that the new budget—which has high significance due to expectant general elections in the country and nation has to give verdict on the basis of present government’s performance vis-à-vis “the amelioration of peoples’ lot”—shall herald peace, progress and prosperity—which, in no way; is a taxing task for the icons and advocates of ‘good governance’, who are now-a-days ruling—Pakistan.●