- Abbas says those in power are unwilling to face the facts.
- Khokhar links poverty rise to political failure.
- Abbasi says the debt crisis is getting serious.
ISLAMABAD: Opposition leaders on Sunday rejected the federal budget, accusing the government of ignoring economic realities, burdening citizens with taxes and failing to address rising poverty.
“The [rulers] is deceiving itself,” Senate Opposition Leader Allama Raja Nasir Abbas said while addressing a budget seminar in Islamabad, criticizing the government’s claim that a person earning Rs.280 a day was not below the poverty line.
Abbas said those in power were “not ready to see the facts with their own eyes” and alleged that the government had failed to deliver services to the people.
“The people of Pakistan are being crushed in the mill of poverty,” he said, adding that food prices were “touching the sky”.
Comparing the country’s finances to a household budget, the opposition leader said that when a family’s expenses exceeded its income, it came under the burden of debt and then began selling its assets.
“Pakistan’s income is less than its expenditure,” he said, adding that no serious effort had been made to reduce expenditure and increase income.
Abbas also warned that if the next elections were held under the same system, the results would be “the worst”.
‘The budget cannot succeed without solving public problems’
Tehreek-e-Tahafuz-e-Ayeen-e-Pakistan leader Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar said the rise in poverty was proof of the failure of economic policies.
“The real goal of economic growth is the improvement of people’s lives,” he said, adding that life had become difficult for low-income groups.
Khokhar said that a tax system could not be effective without government services and stressed that citizens must have facilities if taxes were collected from them.
“Economic success is meaningless if poverty is not reduced,” he said, adding that the budget could not succeed without addressing public problems.
He said the government had failed to reduce its own expenditure while heavy taxes continued to be levied despite a lack of services.
“The budget is a sign of economic crisis”
PTI senior leader Salman Akram Raja described the budget as an “economic emergency” for Pakistan and said the country’s economy was trapped in a severe crisis and debt burden.
He said claims of economic development were at odds with reality, while the increase in loans posed a major threat to the country’s future.
“The federal government is trapped in interest payments,” he said, adding that running the system through loans was not a viable solution.
Raja said poverty was increasing instead of decreasing, while Pakistan was lagging far behind in spending on health and education.
“Investment in human development is necessary to compete globally,” he said, adding that fundamental changes were needed to deal with the economic crisis.
‘No serious effort to reduce expenses’
Former Prime Minister and Awam Pakistan Party leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said the past four years had been the worst for Pakistan’s economy.
He said public expenditure had outstripped development expenditure, while pension expenditure had exceeded the cost of running the government.
“Interest and debt payments have started to exceed income,” Abbasi said, adding that the country’s debt was growing every year and the crisis was becoming more severe.
He said additional taxes had placed an additional financial burden on the people, while the government took new loans to cover its expenses.
Abbasi said demands for budget cuts seemed far from reality, adding that ordinary Pakistanis were bearing the burden of indirect taxes.
He also called for fundamental reforms in the system, saying investment would not come without the rule of law, political stability and political continuity.
‘The budget only changes numbers’
Jamaat-e-Islami Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said that Pakistan had a “cruel tax system” and claimed that the common man paid 60% tax.
“The people are not getting any relief in the budget; only the numbers are changing,” he told a news conference in Islamabad.
Hafiz Naeem demanded the abolition of the oil tax and called for the abolition of capacity taxes for independent power producers.
He also said that funds for MNAs in the Public Sector Development Program should be abolished and that official vehicles should not be above 1300cc.
“The budget has just become the name for moving numbers up and down,” he said, adding that electricity, petrol and gas prices directly affected the public.
He said the government itself conceded to pressure from the IMF, while large sums had been kept in the budget to hide incompetence.
