Flushing out the corrupt essential for effective growth Business February 2, 2021 LAHORE: Improving the economy has always been an uphill task for each government that assumed power in the last three decades. This government is no exception, as the basic flaws in the economy have not been addressed even now. We are not a growth-based economy. In fact growth has never been the top priority of any government in Pakistan. Each was interested in increasing revenues by any means. Instead of increasing revenues based on the capacity of the population, each government resorted to regressive taxation. The concept of consumer tax introduced in the 1980s provided each government to exploit the consumers at will. The consumption tax or the general sales tax in Pakistan is 17 percent. This rate is higher than the rate at which most corporate executives pay their income tax.