Clinton urges wealthy Pakistanis to dig into pockets

[pkpatriotic]

Clinton urges wealthy Pakistanis to dig into pockets

- Oct 14 2010 -1 hour ago

BRUSSELS — US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday said Pakistan's wealthy needed to follow in the footsteps of the international community in helping the ravaged nation's longterm recovery.

"It's absolutely unacceptable for those with means in Pakistan not to be doing their fair share to help their own people while taxpayers in Europe, the United States and other contributing countries are all chipping in," Clinton said.

"The most important step Pakistan can take is to pass meaningful reforms to expand its tax base," Clinton said in a public statement as she joined the European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in pledging continued assistance.

"The government must require that the economically affluent and elite support the government and people of Pakistan," she added.

The call came on the eve of a key meeting in Brussels on Friday co-hosted by Ashton and Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

The ministerial session of the "Friends of Democratic Pakistan" -- grouping 26 nations and international bodies -- will be looking at the impact of this summer's floods on Pakistan's longterm recovery efforts.

Efforts towards "a safe, secure and prosperous Pakistan" aim to help the country battle extremism, both Clinton and Ashton said.

Clinton, in Brussels to attend a one-day NATO summit, said that as Pakistan shifted from relief to recovery from the floods that hit 20 million people, more help would be needed from the international community.

To date the US and the EU have provided around 450 million dollars each in aid.

Europe for its part this month offered a major trade boost, proposing to lift duties on 75 of its imports as part of an aid-linked package designed to help recovery from the catastrophe.

The unilateral suspension of duties, available for the next three years, concerns goods accounting for 27 percent of Pakistan's current imports to the EU.

 

[silent hill]

if wealthy expatriates really dedicate some fraction of their weakth for their country, we can hugely improve our economy, but most of them are selfish :S and not to mention, the money in the swiss accounts of zerdaris sharifs etc!!, musharrafs

 

[pkpatriotic]

Joint Press Statements With EU High Representative Lady Catherine Ashton

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
European Commission Berlaymont Offices
Brussels, Belgium
October 14, 2010

One-Clip Player (BETA)

HIGH REPRESENTATIVE ASHTON: Hi, everyone. May I first of all welcome Secretary of State Clinton, Hillary, to Brussels. As some of you will know, we’ve met pretty regularly in the last few weeks between the UN and my visit to Washington, but it’s a great pleasure to have you here. And another opportunity really to bring ourselves up to date with all of the issues which we share and which we’ve worked on together, and where actually the collaboration between the European Union and the United States is critical, essential to our shared objectives, values, and goals, but also to our commitment to tackling some of the bigger issues that we face.

And one of those key areas in which we’re working together is Pakistan. First of all providing the immediate post-flood relief following what were unprecedented floods devastating large parts of the country, and then developing a longer-term strategy to help Pakistan’s reconstruction and, of course, its economic development, and bolstering the political support to improve the institutions and the capacity building in Pakistan, and to help those institutions to combat extremism.

I am pleased that we were able to announce at the last European Council agreed an ambitious package of support, including important trade measures, and we’re working hard now to implement this comprehensive agenda. A safe, secure, stable Pakistan is manifestly in the interests of the European Union, the United States, and the international community as a whole. And that will be my key message when I host the Friends of Democratic Pakistan conference tomorrow here in Brussels, an important meeting where the main international actors come together to discuss Pakistan’s short and its long-term needs, to set out what we can all do to support this important country, and to agree on what the democratic Government of Pakistan, for its part, can do in terms of the necessary political and economic reforms.

And I know in that meeting and beyond, I can count on the support and the collaboration of Secretary of State Clinton and, of course, the U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke in this regard. Secretary Clinton.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you so much, Cathy. I am delighted to join High Representative Ashton here today. As she said, we have been consulting closely and regularly on a full range of issues that are of concern to both the European Union and the United States, and I am very pleased that tomorrow she and Pakistani Foreign Minister Qureshi will host a meeting of the Friends of Democratic Pakistan. It’s a group of 26 nations and institutions united behind Pakistan’s progress, and they will assess the results of the work that this group has accomplished since last year’s summit that was co-chaired by President Obama in New York.

And they will also help the international community prepare for the Pakistan Development Forum which will take place next month in Islamabad and provide a roadmap for long-term reconstruction. I regret I will not be at the meeting tomorrow; I have to return to Washington, but Ambassador Holbrooke is here to lead our delegation.

This will reinforce the importance of a global response to the crisis in Pakistan. Since the floods began, many countries have come forward with significant financial and in-kind support for the relief effort. Now, as Pakistan shifts from relief to recovery and reconstruction, more help will be needed. And it is a great pleasure to be working with Cathy and the European Union. I want to acknowledge the great effort that the European Commission and its member states have made in responding to this global crisis. I think all told, they have contributed nearly $450 million toward relief and recovery efforts. And furthermore, last month they announced the decision to extend enhanced market access to Pakistan to give Pakistani businesses a much-needed boost at this critical time.

The United States has similarly been very engaged. To date, we have provided $388 million in financial support and an additional 75 million in logistical and in-kind support. Up to 30 U.S. helicopters evacuated nearly 23,000 people and delivered more than 16 million pounds of relief supplies.

We did this first and foremost because responding to humanitarian disasters is a core value of my country, and we believe strongly that in partnership with our European friends we can contribute greatly to not just the immediate relief but the reconstruction, as we did with the earthquake in 2005 in Pakistan, with the tsunami in Southeast Asia, and as we are working together in Haiti.

We are also helping because Pakistan is our partner. We are deeply involved in an ongoing Strategic Dialogue, and next week I will host the third high-level meeting of the Strategic Dialogue in Washington and review the work that 13 working groups of the United States and Pakistani governments are engaged in.

We also believe that stability in Pakistan is essential to our shared fight against terrorism and to protect the security of the people of our country and friends and allies like those in Europe. Now, of course, the international community can only do so much. Pakistan itself must take immediate and substantial action to mobilize its own resources, and in particular to reform its economy.

The most important step that Pakistan can take is to pass meaningful reforms that will expand its tax base. The government must require that the economically affluent and elite in Pakistan support the government and people of Pakistan. We have been very clear on that, and I am pleased that the government is responding. I know how difficult this is, but it is absolutely unacceptable for those with means in Pakistan not to be doing their fair share to help their own people while the taxpayers of Europe, the United States, and other contributing countries are all chipping in to do our part. The government must also take steps to alleviate the crippling power shortages that stifle economic growth while making life difficult for the Pakistani people.

Now, the work ahead is significant. Later today, Pakistan, the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank will provide their assessment for reconstruction. It will be a daunting request. They will need to rebuild and build thousands of schools and health clinics, restore thousands of kilometers of roads, erect dozens of bridges, restore the irrigation system. And as they do so, they can count on our support. They must take the lead and we will be there by their side.

So I look forward to hearing about the results of tomorrow’s meeting and to working with the European Union, its member states, and other nations worldwide to support the future of a democratic, stable Pakistan. And again, I thank Cathy for her leadership. Thank you.

HIGH REPRESENTATIVE ASHTON: Thank you, everyone.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you, all.

 

[Awesome]

If anything such statements are more a problem of perception than reality. Why only look at Zardari and the politicians as the example. A lot of wealthy people with the means have contributed a lot.

Whether Clinton's statement was true or not, taxpayers in Europe would back off without doing their own research.

People from Pakistan are doing what they can. If you want to give, give. Don't come around lecturing us.

 

[DesiGuy]

BRUSSELS: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday said Pakistan's wealthy needed to follow in the footsteps of the international community in helping the ravaged nation's long-term recovery.

“It's absolutely unacceptable for those with means in Pakistan not to be doing their fair share to help their own people while taxpayers in Europe, the United States and other contributing countries are all chipping in,” Clinton said.

“The most important step Pakistan can take is to pass meaningful reforms to expand its tax base,” Clinton said in a public statement as she joined the European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in pledging continued assistance.

“The government must require that the economically affluent and elite support the government and people of Pakistan,” she added.

The call came on the eve of a key meeting in Brussels on Friday co-hosted by Ashton and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

The ministerial session of the “Friends of Democratic Pakistan” — grouping 26 nations and international bodies — will be looking at the impact of this summer's floods on Pakistan's long-term recovery efforts.

Efforts towards “a safe, secure and prosperous Pakistan” aim to help the country battle extremism, both Clinton and Ashton said.

Clinton, in Brussels to attend a one-day Nato summit, said that as Pakistan shifted from relief to recovery from the floods that hit 20 million people, more help would be needed from the international community.

To date the US and the EU have provided around 450 million dollars each in aid.

Europe for its part this month offered a major trade boost, proposing to lift duties on 75 of its imports as part of an aid-linked package designed to help recovery from the catastrophe.

The unilateral suspension of duties, available for the next three years, concerns goods accounting for 27 per cent of Pakistan's current imports to the EU.

DAWN.COM | World | Pakistan must bring rich into tax net, says Hillary

 

[VCheng]

If anything such statements are more a problem of perception than reality. Why only look at Zardari and the politicians as the example. A lot of wealthy people with the means have contributed a lot.

Whether Clinton's statement was true or not, taxpayers in Europe would back off without doing their own research.

People from Pakistan are doing what they can. If you want to give, give. Don't come around lecturing us.

No doubt the Pakistani nation is a proud nation, and is doing everything it possibly can to help out the flood victims in this hour of need.

However, the perception that you are referring to is very real, and arises from the nature of the interactions with the state appointed representatives abroad with thier counter-parts.

Fro example, when NASDAQ/NYSE recently offered their huge billboard in Times Square for free to raise funds for flood relief, what happened next is no less a national disgrace than many other such sordid chapters in our history.

The truly sad thing is that the nation pays the price for such antics by its rulers on so many levels, and this is just one more example of that.

 

[ajtr]

she actually meant feudal/ business/political/ elite class who dont pay taxes and take heavy loans from state owned financial institutions never to pay it back and get it written off through NRO.

 

[BATMAN]

But she will candidly support zardari and sharif any time.
What Pakistan need is to tax only these two persons and stop mismanagement of state affairs.

 

[HAIDER]

Nawaz roaming in Bentley and he paid 5000 rupees tax last year. Check the tax record of your politicians.

 

[ajtr]

 

[BATMAN]

Nawaz roaming in Bentley and he paid 5000 rupees tax last year. Check the tax record of your politicians.

I didn't wanted to say but Sharif is a cheap thief... he use to run his foundry on direct connection and SDO appointment at kotlakhpat substation use be done from the office of P.M and C.M.

 

[somebozo]

It is / was not fair at all for EU and America to slap sanctions on Pakistan and halt its thriving economy as well cause flight of capital..now the tax payers are barely bearing the brunt of what their governments sowed 20 years ago.

 

[Hulk]

Does anyone has data of who is paying how much tax, it will be interesting. I have found something similar about Indian politicians and was really interesting to read. Like Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi does not own a car (Why will they buy it, they always use public money for their own expenses). Same thing applies to lot of our politicians.

 

[VCheng]

It is / was not fair at all for EU and America to slap sanctions on Pakistan and halt its thriving economy as well cause flight of capital..now the tax payers are barely bearing the brunt of what their governments sowed 20 years ago.

Sanctions and flight of capital are not to blame.

Pakistan has one of the lowest tax collection to GDP ratios in the world. There are huge imbalances built right into the system, with few direct taxes, and en bloc exemptions (for example agricultural income).

A majority of what tax is collected goes for two major heads: debt servicing and defence, leaving very little for the socal services sector, including crucial areas like health and education.

We have been stealing from our collective future for decades, and the huge bill is only now coming due. The real enormity of what this entails will soon become apparent to all of us.

 

[BATMAN]

^^ What is your knowledge about Pakistan's tax ratio?

Please, name a country which has higher taxation than Pakistan?

Flight of capital has very much to do with revenue loss.
it devalues the currency and since last 3 years currency of Pakistan has been on nose dive so people of Pakistan cannot afford any more what they could.

You can't gauge the tax collection alone... with some xyz country.

Pakistan face loss of revenue amounting billions of USD every year in embezzlement and misuse of state funds. which should be given equal importance.

Pakistan is not a kingdom of King Richard where tax shall be collected from the subjects of his state.