Huzaima Bukhari “If you’re a scientist, and you have to have an answer, even in the absence of data, you’re not going to be a good scientist”—Neil deGrasse Tyson (American astrophysicist) Most organized households first make a note of their members, their categories and needs after which income and expenditure are evaluated for balancing the...Read More

Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq In a country of about 210 million people, about 10,000 individuals, prominent in business or profession or holding key positions in state institutions, think they know each and everything and can fix the multiple and complex problems faced by Pakistan, either single-handedly or by forming WhatsApp groups. So, we...Read More

Learning from China & others Dr. Ikramul Haq Nobody in Pakistan has highlighted till today what China has offered as tax package to help domestic businesses hurt by the deadly corona outbreak in addition to overcoming it in a short time. The relief package [March-24-Package] announced by our Prime Minister of Rs. 1.2 trillion was...Read More

Huzaima Bukhari “Good debt accrues assets that generate positive returns and externalities”—Anthony Scaramucci—American political consultant Any logical person would advise someone looking for a break-through to “strike when the iron is hot”—the right (or rather ripe) time to realize an apparently unachievable objective. This could work both positively being conducive to the public at large...Read More

When challenges offer opportunities Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq “It is a narrow mind which cannot look at a subject from various points of view”—  George Eliot, Middlemarch  “Five percent of the people think; ten percent of the people think they think; and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think”—Thomas Edison The...Read More

Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq After seven decades of independence, the rulers in Pakistan want to celebrate liberation from colonial rule having pushed the country into a chronic debt trap at the hands of neo-colonial forces. This paradox depicts what Zulfikar Ali Bhutto highlighted in his book, Myth of Independence. What makes the situation...Read More

Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq In these columns, we have been repeatedly pleading for an urgent action to review the existing taxation rights under the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan [“the Constitution”] as presently, all broad-based and buoyant sources of revenue are with the federal government and contribution of provinces in total tax...Read More

Huzaima Bukhari “Ultimately what I end up writing about is helplessness and the flipside of that, empowerment”—Joss Whedon When a crisis hits one with no immediate solution at hand, when one is struck by a calamity with no hope of support from any quarter, when one gets entrapped in utter darkness with no ray of...Read More

Dr. Ikramul Haq “It has been common knowledge for years that a large number of Pakistani citizens, who are residents of Pakistan and are maintaining accounts in foreign countries without disclosing the same to the authorities competent under the laws of Pakistan or paying taxes on the same in accordance with law. Prima facie, it...Read More

Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq Every now and then, we keep on hearing from higher judicial echelons that the federal and provincial governments must run the affairs according to the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan [“the Constitution] and applicable laws/rules/regulations must be followed in letter and spirit. While this is an undisputable and...Read More