Corruption, tax evasion and white-collar crimes are the main factors Pakistan is in the economic mess we are in. In a recent article in media, an MNA who also happens to be a leading industrialist even though his father was just a middle-ranking police official, was complimented for being a regular taxpayer. The MNA has become an industrial tycoon despite his humble origins and is a man of immense wealth today. He had been a minister in Nawaz Sharifs government as well as in the Musharraf junta. Payment of taxes by a big taxpayer would have been a routine thing in another country but in Pakistan even that is news worthy of large print because tax is the issue that torments this country. According to former Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, the total tax paid by the whole retail sector in Pakistan is under Rs 9 crore per annum. Shocking this might be for you, it does not shame our corrupt FBR officials nor have they been held accountable by any government for this daylight robbery in connivance with retailers. It could have only happened in Pakistan that just when one province (Punjab) levied a Luxury Tax on expensive limousines of over 2000 cc, the federal government and other three provinces facilitated the tax-evaders by allowing them to register their cars in their territory of jurisdiction. Tax evasion is part of the accepted culture of the elite of our society which comprises the corrupt civil & khaki bureaucracy, landlords, politicians, traders, industrial tycoons, lobbyists, middlemen and even prominent members of the civil society. They roam around freely without any remorse, shame or fear of getting caught because they know tax-evaders of their kind rule Pakistan. It is these tax evaders that wring out the most benefit from the state through cash refunds that are actually more than taxes paid. The fact that all of them are involved in money laundering through which they buy valuable real estate or keep fat bank accounts in UK, USA, Canada or the Gulf, does not bother the FBR or the State Bank of Pakistan. Despite all the hue and cry raised by the free media, the main culprits in Steel Mills case remain free. That can only be in a country called Pakistan. -GULL ZAMAN, Paris, June 25.