Pakistan has had some major economic bumps as of late, including a near default in 2023. At the root: seriously low tax collection. Millions of Pakistan residents opt out of paying income taxes entirely. This is a problem a lot of lower- and middle-income countries face. On today's show, we talk about why there are so many tax dodgers in Pakistan and what the government is trying to do about it.  Related episodes:  <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/04/29/1247777247/pakistan-us-china-trade-tariffs-aid"target="_blank" >Is the US pushing countries towards China?</a> <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/04/18/714788538/a-brief-history-of-income-taxes"target="_blank" >A brief history of income taxes</a>  For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at <a href="http://plus.npr.org/"target="_blank" >plus.npr.org</a>. Fact-checking by <a href="https://www.npr.org/people/1268825622/sierra-juarez"target="_blank" >Sierra Juarez</a>. Music by <a href="https://dropelectric.bandcamp.com/"target="_blank" >Drop Electric</a>. Find us: <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@planetmoney"target="_blank" >TikTok</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/planetmoney/"target="_blank" >Instagram</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/planetmoney"target="_blank" >Facebook</a>, <a href="https://www.npr.org/newsletter/money"target="_blank" >Newsletter</a>.   Learn more about sponsor message choices: <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a> <a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>

Podurama

Home

Trending

Personal

Your Podcasts

New Episodes

My Files

Favourite Episodes

Tags (Folders)

Recently Played

Bookmarks

Followed Playlists

How Pakistan is revving up a fight against tax dodgers

The Indicator from Planet Money

AI Chapters

AI Insights

Reviews