Omfattende reformer i Pakistans skattesystem, hvor store huller i lovgivningen tillader landets velstående elite at slippe med ofte minimale skattebetalinger, er kommet i det internationale samfunds søgelys.
USAs udenrigsminister Hillary Clinton gav forleden den muslimske atommagt et vink med en vognstang om, at man ikke fortsat kan forvente, at omverdenen iler til undsætning med midler i katastrofesituationer, hvis ikke også landets egne bemidlede borgere spæder mærkbart til.
Clintons opfordring gentages nu fra anden side:
Pakistan Reforms Needed For Flood Aid: World Bank
Pakistan needs funds for at least one year of reconstruction after its devastating floods, but in turn it must assure donors it will revamp tax and subsidy regimes, World Bank Country Director for Pakistan Rachid Benmessaoud said on Friday.
Such initial funding could help to rebuild livelihoods and put cash into rural economies as villagers return to the flood-hit plains.
However, the World Bank wants assurances from Pakistan that it will put in place macroeconomic reforms, revamping its fiscal regime and cutting subsidies to a derelict (forældet/nedslidt) power sector that last year amounted to about 2,5 billion US dollar.
For Pakistan to “become more stable”, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said at the Friends of Democratic Pakistan meeting “you can harvest as much money as you want, it will not be enough at the end of the day if there is no tax reform”.
He said “an adjustment in the equilibrium (ligevægt) between rich and poor in Pakistan was fundamental”.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague underlined that “there are necessary reforms in Pakistan and they should include a widening of the tax base”.
Meanwhile, the 2 billion dollar appeal for aid for Pakistani flood victims, the largest-ever launched by the UN for a natural disaster, is just 34 percent funded, and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Friday called for a generous and swift international response.
The appeal was launched a month ago, more than quadrupling the original 460 million sought in August as the full scope of the floods became clear. Nearly 690 million dollar has come in so far.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
