Pakistan: Economy under Elites – Tax Amnesty Schemes, 2018

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of the paper is to take an incisive glimpse into Pakistan’s political economy through the lens of a tax policy abnorm i.e. the tax amnesty scheme, 2018. The paper is theoretically anchored in the elitist framework which arguably best explains structural composition of the economy. The paper refines the elitist framework, accentuates its significance, and innovates on it to induct the competing Freudian concepts of “pleasure principle” and “reality principle” to sharpen our understanding of Pakistan’s political economy. It is argued that impending inflows of offshore bank and financial account information of Pakistan resident persons under the OECD’s Multilateral Convention was the main dynamic of the amnestization initiative in which the Supreme Court of Pakistan played the role of the agent provocateur. The empirical results obtained help conclude that the amnestization initiatives have helped proliferate underground economy, and enhance the elitist economic status quo in Pakistan.