Tax the rich, not the poor, farmers tell govt

Farmers have asked the government to tax the rich instead of the poor to remove unjust burden on the people, particularly the farming community which is running the economy by toiling day and night at their fields. “The government should tax the rich and elite class of the country by going for direct taxes instead of over­­burdening the poor masses by levying indirect taxes like general sales tax which is leading to inflation in the country and making farm inputs unaffordable,” said Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee general secretary Farooq Tariq at a presser on Monday. Flanked by Saima Zia of the Asian People’s Mov­e­m­ent on Debt & Development, he said the national tax system was also plagued by gender biases, while it was allowing tax abuse by the corporate sector. Mr Tariq said the PKRC and APMDD jointly called for tax justice to address the wealth inequality challenge that has disproportionately impacted the people of Global South, particularly of Pakistan.