ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that Pakistan’s future is bleak if the wealthy don’t pay their fair share in taxes to help the government make the country into a welfare state.
He was addressing a ceremony to give out awards to top 50 tax payers of the country in Islamabad on Wednesday. The prime minister lauded the top taxpayers as being the “real VIPs of Pakistan.
“There is nothing wrong in being wealthy and it should not be something thought of negatively,” he said.
The premier called out citizens who don’t pay tax, saying Pakistan will not be able to survive without everyone contributing.
The PM said that only 1.7 million tax filers will not be able to sustain Pakistan, adding that,”we need to change our system”.
It is unfair, he said, that the wealthy were unwilling to pay their fair share in taxes, adding that the onus was on the government to spend the tax collected in an equitable manner.
PM Imran said that tax collection was one of the cornerstones of the society built by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in Mecca, and promised to turn Pakistan into a welfare state.
