When the Finance Minister presented the budget in a long speech, he was trying to convince everyone that the budget would change the economy of the country. It is hard to believe how naïve our Ministers are! Even an illiterate knows that our economy cannot change unless we make some drastic changes. Unless the big fish come into the tax net and our government reduces its lavish expenditure on nonproductive projects, we cannot have a better economy.
There is no moral justification for a President and the Prime Minister of a poor indebted nation like ours, to spend billions on offices, residences, travelling domestically and on foreign trips with large cohorts, at the taxpayers’ expense. In a country where millions of people are living below the poverty line, and millions of children are not attending schools, where a large section of the population does not have medical facility or clean drinking water, this does not make sense.
Instead of spending on education and developing human resources, which is one the biggest asset Pakistan has, our government is spending on roads, motorways, high speed trains etc. The budget is a businessman friendly budget, and it puts extra burden on the middle class and the poor class. Stop beating your chest and singing songs of praise, the nation is not happy at all and someone should let the Finance Minister know!
ENGR. S.T. HUSSAIN,
Lahore, June 7.