After provincial autonomy has been entrusted on the federating units, it is the main responsibility of the provinces to devise trade and investment policies in their respective jurisdictions. However, treading on the beaten path, the political leadership as well as the official machinery has failed to launch progressive plans in any of the province, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is in power with a slogan of a “change”. According to newspaper reports, the KP has emerged as the most unfriendly province from business point of view while Balochistan is regarded comparatively a better place for business and investment. The provincial government in KP is collecting 24 kinds of taxes. The number of taxes in Punjab is 17, in Sindh 14 and in Balochistan 13 which the provinces are collecting through various agencies. A host taxes are collected through a host of agencies, but the provinces still look toward the federal government for assistance and it provides them required funds by taking loans from international donor agencies.
In Sindh province, the Sindh Revenue Board and the Excise and Taxation Department are the collecting agencies while in Punjab; four departments are involved in tax collection, including Punjab Excise and Taxation Department and Punjab Revenue Authority. Five departments each collect taxes in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but the element to provide essential human services is missing in all four provinces what to speak of Gilgit-Baltistan, FATA and Azad Kashmir. Political parties make tall claims during elections that they will change the lot of the people after coming to power, but forget everything after assuming the office. The answer is simple. Most of the political leadership is incapable of progressive vision and is the regular traveller of the beaten tracks. Unfortunately, Pakistan is the only country in the world where the investors have to pay 47 kinds of taxes to start a business. In United States, a businessman gets all his legal and utility work done just in one day, but a businessman in Pakistan has to deal with several provincial departments and ‘pen of approval’ only moves when it is injected with money. Otherwise, the investor is harassed to the extent to pack and leave for another destination. However, the federal government is held responsible for every woe, which has its own merits and demerits.
Things will not move in right direction unless the provinces take full responsibility of the profit and loss in their respective domains. The provincial governments should wake up and enact such laws which provide protection not only to local businessmen, but also to foreign investors. No one will stop them from embarking on the journey of development and prosperity if they have a will to do something for this nation.
