Business Recorder Report: Pakistan’s Broken Social Contract

The Business Recorder has released a scathing analysis of Pakistan’s current economic path, describing it as a breach of the social contract. The state is accused of extracting high taxes from a sliver of the population—3.4 million people—to cover massive fiscal deficits while the informal elite remains untaxed. Professionals are double-charged, paying high income taxes and then paying again for private security, power, and schools. This environment has made transparency a liability. With 9 trillion rupees in debt looming, the government’s reliance on squeezing the registered economy is seen as a short-sighted tactic that risks permanent damage to the nation’s industrial foundation.