How Pakistan is revving up a fight against tax dodgers

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  NPR.

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  This is The Indicator from Planet Money.

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  I'm Darian Woods and today I'm joined by Betsy Jolles, NPR's regular contributor from Pakistan.

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  Thanks for joining us Betsy.

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  Glad to be here, Darian.

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  So you've been reporting from Pakistan for several years now,

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  which means you've seen some major economic bumps, including a near default in 2023.

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  That was a recent low point for sure,

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  and it came just before a bailout from the International Monetary Fund,

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  which is a serial lender to Pakistan.

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  Pakistan's economy has recovered somewhat since then,

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  but there are still some major structural issues,

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  and one of them is seriously low tax collection.

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  Ah, yes, taxes.

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  A thorn in the side of Pakistan's economy and in the side of every worker.

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  That's definitely how Pakistanis feel,

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  so millions of people here just opt out of paying income taxes entirely,

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  and the country's been trying to change that so it doesn't need to constantly borrow from the IMF.

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  Of course, Pakistan has its own version of the IRS which tracks incomes,

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  but it's not that simple or effective.

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