‘Let the Rich Pay’ Mentality
Posted on April 17th, 2023

BY Shivanthi Ranasinghe Courtesy Ceylon Today

In an effort to convince that the IMF is here to help Sri Lanka, IMF Senior Mission Chief for Sri Lanka Peter Breuer says, When a crisis strikes, the poor are hit the hardest.” From the onset of the negotiations with the IMF, as Sri Lanka sought a bailout, IMF had been insistent on strengthening social safety nets for the economic vulnerable. 

This insistence challenges those who are highly suspicious of IMF’s motives. The opponents of the IMF intervention, oppose in the belief that the IMF is an arm of the West’s hegemony and so will bleed the country dry of her resources. 

The worry does not stem from xenophobia, but from real life experiences. Sri Lanka has been fighting against West’s aggressive and often conniving maneuvers in their efforts of expansionism for over 400 years. Even for a nation, this is a long period of time. For the past two decades, the West has a renewed interest in our affairs. Therefore, it is only natural to worry that the IMF bailout might actually be a Trojan horse. 

Past traumas fuelling present fears

It has been our unfortunate experience that when the West gets involved, we lose heavily. We tend to lose territorial integrity, economic autonomy, social harmony and our voice, though not necessarily in that order. To be part of the West-enforced systems, we are forced to choose between religion, language, cultural and traditional values and even food habits. We usually end up in a worse situation than we were before the ‘intervention’.  

Therefore, to the skeptic, the IMF’s insistence on protecting the poor and vulnerable sounds both odd and suspicious. Usually, it is by expressing concern for human and democratic rights that the West manages to get their toe in the door. Once through the door, the promised utopian never materialises and we watch helplessly as our resources are channelled to enrich another nation, forcing us into poverty. 

When we speak of most present day dilemmas, especially political and economic, we always identify the time frame as since 1948. Perhaps the question at hand did arise after we regained our Independence. However, the popular misconception that all our problems began with Independence and life before was good is incorrect. 

The issue is, as we try to overcome our present day challenges, we are being put under the microscope by the West and West funded civil organisations. Every decision we take is then questioned, criticised and condemned. Through various means, the West continues to exert influence on our decisions. The constant threat to withdraw GSP+ and the UNHRC resolutions continuously adapted against Sri Lanka are few examples of West’s interferences into our internal matters. 

IMF finds a way into the Sri Lankan heart

However, the IMF bailout has promised us a condition that will comfort us and take our minds off from our suspicions. As Breuer notes, To raise spending for the poor and vulnerable, strengthen social safety nets and introduce progressive tax reforms to ensure growth,” the IMF programme aims to ensure greater contribution comes from high income earners.”

The promise to tax and make the rich pay for our woes will make a convert out of most skeptics. If there could be one thing most nationalists despise than the West, it is the Sri Lankan rich. For many, the Sri Lankan well-to-do is synonymous with the Western Hegemony. 

Hence, IMF’s pledge to make the rich to pay for all and carry the entire nation’s burden is enough of a bone to distract the socialist minded nationalists from worrying over IMF’s actual motives. In the relish to see the rich being made to pay, many would miss the contradiction in Breuer’s observation and proposed solution. 

Breuer observes that there are no easy solutions to overcome the ongoing economic crisis. He thus advocates that everyone must come together to tackle this enormous problem.  

He then contradicts himself as he pushes for a solution where the burden of both looking after the vulnerable and ensuring economic growth falls squarely on the high income earners. How the economically vulnerable can be part of the solution or what opportunities that can be created for the poor to be stakeholders of the envisioned economic growth is missing from the IMF’s proposals. 

Why do Sri Lankans hate their Rich?

In Sri Lanka, proprietors and entrepreneurs are looked upon through the same lens with which western hegemony is viewed. That is because for a very long time in Sri Lanka, only those who adapted to Western ways and thinking could access economic independence. 

However, it was not a simple case of blindly adapting an English name or converting to Christianity that paved the path to economic opportunity. Even if one acquired the ability to speak the English language more eloquently than the ordinary Englishman and ranked top in education qualifications, Asians were far from treated as equals by the European forced occupiers. 

Citizens had to pay higher taxes to purchase land than the Europeans. Those who carved a better life for themselves did so overcoming enormous obstacles. They had to be shrewd in their own ways. 

Most of those who gained economic wealth never forgot their origins or fellow citizens. Many turned philanthropic and provided facilities for various vocations as well as helped build schools of the same standing as those established by the missionaries. 

However, the gap between the rich and the poor continued in more than one way. Language and social skills also defined this gap. Since Independence, the Constitution may dictate that all citizens must be treated equally regardless of race, religion or creed. However, language and social skill still play a large role in one’s economic independence as well as acceptance in society. 

Today, entrepreneurs and proprietors face different sets of challenges, which are as complicated, if not more, as the days of European forced occupation. Nevertheless, the path to success still lies in the systems left behind by the Europeans. Regardless of how much socialism might be advocated, capitalism still rules the game. 

Therefore, for the ordinary masses, there is a thick glass ceiling between economic and social ascendancy. Looking at a class that talks and behaves like the English, knowing such social acceptance is not possible unless one too changes accordingly, it is easy to transfer the anger that was channeled at the English towards the Sri Lankan elite society who behave just like the English. 

However, targeting the high income earners and expecting them to shoulder the bill of economic growth and looking after the vulnerable societies will not work. It will only exacerbate our economic woes. 

One of the biggest deterrents for investors is high interest rates and taxes. Hence, trying to impose high-interest rates will only result in further contraction of economic activities. As the economy shrinks, brain and skill drain will accelerate. This will push us further into debt, as we struggle to meet our basic recurring expenditures. 

Therefore, we need solutions where every citizen shoulders an equitable share of the responsibility. It must be a solution that addresses the core issues that caused the economic crisis, so that economic independence is accessible to all. 

It is important to understand that the IMF’s criteria is different and that our economy is not IMF’s responsibility. Thus, IMF cannot map our path to progress on our behalf. We must figure this on our own. 

ranasingheshivanthi@gmail.com

(The views and opinions expressed in this column are writer’s own and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of
Ceylon Today)

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

 

 


Copyright © 2024 LankaWeb.com. All Rights Reserved. Powered by Wordpress