- Abbas says leaders don’t want to face facts.
- Khokhar links rising poverty to policy failure.
- Abbasi says the debt crisis is becoming serious.
ISLAMABAD: Opposition leaders on Sunday rejected the federal budget, accusing the government of ignoring economic realities, imposing taxes on citizens and failing to tackle growing poverty.
“They [rulers] are wrong,” Leader of Opposition in the Senate Allama Raja Nasir Abbas said at a budget seminar in Islamabad, criticizing the government’s claim that a person earning Rs 280 per day was not below the poverty line.
Abbas said leaders were “not ready to see the facts with their own eyes” and alleged the government had failed to provide services to the people.
“The people of Pakistan are being crushed in the grindstone of poverty,” he said, adding that food prices are “touching the sky.”
Comparing the country’s finances to a household budget, the Opposition Leader said when a family’s expenses exceeded its income, it found itself under the burden of debt and then began selling off its assets.
“Pakistan’s revenue is less than its expenditure,” he said, adding that no serious efforts had been made to reduce expenditure and increase revenue.
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 increasing poverty was proof of failure of economic policies.
“The true measure of economic growth is the improvement in people’s lives,” he said, adding that life had become difficult for low-income groups.
Khokhar said a tax system cannot be effective without state services, stressing that citizens must be given facilities if taxes are collected from them.
“Economic success is meaningless if poverty is not reduced,” he said, adding that the budget could not succeed without solving public problems.
He said the government had failed to reduce its own spending, while heavy taxes continued to be imposed despite a lack of services.
“The budget is a sign of an economic crisis”
Senior PTI leader Salman Akram Raja described the budget as an “economic emergency” for Pakistan, saying the country’s economy was stuck in a severe crisis and debt burden.
He said claims about economic development were contrary to reality, while increased lending posed a major threat to the country’s future.
“The federal government is stuck paying interest,” he said, adding that running the system through loans was not a sustainable solution.
Raja said poverty was increasing rather than decreasing, while Pakistan was 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 address the economic crisis.
“No serious effort to reduce spending”
Former Prime Minister and Awam Party Pakistan leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said the last four years were the worst for Pakistan’s economy.
He said government spending had become larger than development spending, while pension spending exceeded government operating costs.
“Interest and debt payments began to exceed revenues,” Abbasi said, adding that the country’s debt was growing every year and the crisis was becoming more serious.
He said additional taxes had placed an additional financial burden on the people, while the government took on new loans to meet its expenses.
Abbasi said demands for fiscal relief seemed far from reality, adding that ordinary Pakistanis bore the burden of indirect taxes.
He also called for fundamental reforms to the system, saying investment would not happen without the rule of law, political stability and political continuity.
“The budget only changes the numbers”
Jamaat-e-Islami Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said Pakistan had a “cruel tax system” and claimed that the common man paid 60% tax.
“People are not getting any relief in the budget; only the numbers are being changed,” he said at a press conference in Islamabad.
Hafiz Naeem demanded removal of oil tax and called for an end to capacity fees for independent power producers.
He also said funds for MPs under the public sector development program should be withdrawn and official vehicles should not exceed 1,300 cc.
“The budget simply became a name to move the numbers up and down,” he said, adding that electricity, gasoline and gas prices directly affected the public.
He said the government itself had admitted to pressure from the IMF, while large sums had been withheld from the budget to hide its incompetence.
