IT’S IMF time. Which means it’s time to trot out the clichés and platitudes that we have grown old listening to: reforms must be undertaken: radical, structural, painful reforms that will shift the paradigm, synergise the grassroots and unleash Pakistan’s geo-economic potential. The game will change, memoranda will be understood; all windows bar one will be sealed shut and all pages save one will be burned. Under our collective weight the adamantine begging bowl will shatter. This time it’ll happen. Seriously. For Real.

Leave aside the fact that if we had a single dollar for every time we’ve heard all this we wouldn’t need an IMF programme, and let’s take a realistic look at just how many leaks in our bucket need to be fixed and how we’ve gone about fixing them.

Our tax sector has been called ‘ineffective, unfair and fragmented’, and that’s a charitable description; massive tax evasion thanks to smuggling and illegal trade can also be seen in tea, tyres and auto lubricants, pharmaceuticals and, of course, the infamous real estate sector. Put together, according to a 2022 report by IPSOS, annual tax evasion in these sectors is estimated to be Rs956 billion, with the lion’s share in real estate.

Burden is placed on........

© Dawn