July 21, 2010--Pakistan: Tax Heaven
Tax heaven, tax haven, take your pick.
But if you hate paying taxes, New Hampshire is not your only option. Up there, though they have no state or sales taxes, you still have to pay federal taxes. On the other hand, if you want a place where only 2 percent of the population pay any taxes at all, Pakistan is the place for you. Read the linked New York Times article and weep.
Do you hear that Rand Paul, Sarah Palin, Mitch McConnell, and John Boehner? This should be paradise for you and the other GOPers who were holding the extension of unemployment benefits hostage in an attempt to pressure Democrats into not repealing George W. Bush's tax breaks for our top 2 percent. The GOP's real constituency.
Pakistan does have a modest sales tax which is the government's primary source of income; but, since this kind of tax is notoriously regressive, it means that in Pakistan the working poor subsidize the opulent life style of the rich.
The system there is additionally rigged. Most of Pakistan's wealth comes from agriculture--more than half the population work in that sector and almost all of the richest Pakistanis derive the bulk of their income from farming. All well and good, but no aspect of the agricultural industry pays any taxes whatsoever.
Members of the local governments and the national Parliament consist disproportionately of the major land owners who in turn make sure that no legislation gets passed that would tax any sources of their income or wealth. Almost all members of Parliament are mega-millionaires and act accordingly.
Riyaz Hussain Naqvi, who worked in tax collection for 38 years says, “This is a system of the elite, by the elite, and for the elite. It is a skewed system in which the poor man subsidizes the rich man.”
And things are not made better by the U.S.'s role in subsidizing the Pakistani military and domestic economy. Hillary Clinton, who was in Pakistan earlier this week, while there announced an additional half billion dollars of nonmilitary aid on top of the billions we send there each year as an incentive (read bribe) to get reluctant government leaders to deploy troops to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region where most Al Qaeda fighters have sanctuary.
I am being only half facetious when I suggest that this kind of effectively taxless economy is the policy dream of our Republicans. Ask Rand Paul, ask Congressman Boehner or Senator Mitch McConnell how to get our economy growing again and they to a man will say cut taxes. Ask them what to do about the budget deficit and they will again say cut taxes. This in spite of the trillions added to our deficit because of the Reagan and Bush tax cuts.
Maybe if we could get subsidies and foreign aid from somewhere we could make this work, but this is not happening. What we do is borrow money from China to send to places like Pakistan. Pakistan, on the other hand, gets its subsidies for free. Come to think of it, maybe they've got something figured out.
But if you hate paying taxes, New Hampshire is not your only option. Up there, though they have no state or sales taxes, you still have to pay federal taxes. On the other hand, if you want a place where only 2 percent of the population pay any taxes at all, Pakistan is the place for you. Read the linked New York Times article and weep.
Do you hear that Rand Paul, Sarah Palin, Mitch McConnell, and John Boehner? This should be paradise for you and the other GOPers who were holding the extension of unemployment benefits hostage in an attempt to pressure Democrats into not repealing George W. Bush's tax breaks for our top 2 percent. The GOP's real constituency.
Pakistan does have a modest sales tax which is the government's primary source of income; but, since this kind of tax is notoriously regressive, it means that in Pakistan the working poor subsidize the opulent life style of the rich.
The system there is additionally rigged. Most of Pakistan's wealth comes from agriculture--more than half the population work in that sector and almost all of the richest Pakistanis derive the bulk of their income from farming. All well and good, but no aspect of the agricultural industry pays any taxes whatsoever.
Members of the local governments and the national Parliament consist disproportionately of the major land owners who in turn make sure that no legislation gets passed that would tax any sources of their income or wealth. Almost all members of Parliament are mega-millionaires and act accordingly.
Riyaz Hussain Naqvi, who worked in tax collection for 38 years says, “This is a system of the elite, by the elite, and for the elite. It is a skewed system in which the poor man subsidizes the rich man.”
And things are not made better by the U.S.'s role in subsidizing the Pakistani military and domestic economy. Hillary Clinton, who was in Pakistan earlier this week, while there announced an additional half billion dollars of nonmilitary aid on top of the billions we send there each year as an incentive (read bribe) to get reluctant government leaders to deploy troops to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region where most Al Qaeda fighters have sanctuary.
I am being only half facetious when I suggest that this kind of effectively taxless economy is the policy dream of our Republicans. Ask Rand Paul, ask Congressman Boehner or Senator Mitch McConnell how to get our economy growing again and they to a man will say cut taxes. Ask them what to do about the budget deficit and they will again say cut taxes. This in spite of the trillions added to our deficit because of the Reagan and Bush tax cuts.
Maybe if we could get subsidies and foreign aid from somewhere we could make this work, but this is not happening. What we do is borrow money from China to send to places like Pakistan. Pakistan, on the other hand, gets its subsidies for free. Come to think of it, maybe they've got something figured out.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
4:54 AM
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