Pleading for revenue.

THE prime minister's recent meeting with business leaders and chamber presidents featured some of his old rhetoric all over again, despite the passage of a year and a half in power. He asked them to pay their taxes, and reminded them that his government had slashed the personal expenses of Prime Minister House, and that the 'lavish lifestyles' of his predecessors were no longer a burden on the government exchequer. He also told them that his government would spend tax money on the Ehsaas programme for the poor, after coming up with whatever was required for defence and debt servicing. The audience, which consisted in significant measure of members of the business community connected with trading, seemed largely unmoved by the presentation.

The prime minister's rhetoric is ineffectual for a variety of reasons. For one, his personal expenses are not really a factor in people's decision to file, or not file, their returns, or get their enterprises registered with the tax authorities. Those expenses are miniscule, and besides, the prime minister's claim that he has slashed them does not hold up to scrutiny. For another, spending on Ehsaas, which basically carries forward the work that began with the Benazir Income Support Programme, is also not likely to motivate people to get their businesses registered. Broadening the tax base is a policy matter and it is not going to happen via emotional appeals. Mr Khan tried this approach all through the first months of his coming to power. By now, it should...