Pakistan: a taxing issue of a more prosaic sort

Depressing NYT front-pager on how the rich-poor divide in Pakistan is made to order by self-serving politicians who give themselves 100% tax breaks.  It is a system in which the poor subsidize the rich, or, as one retired gov worker put it, “This is a system of the elite, by the elite and for the elite.”

Fewer than 2% of Pakistanis pay income tax.  The rules say, if you make over $3500, you pay something, but few do.

One angry politicians says we should stop bailing out Pakistan’s government with aid and force it to start truly self-financing itself.  Last year Congress pledged another $8B over five years.