Sir: This is apropos of the prime minister’s assurance to the cabinet that the next budget will be a welfare budget. What does the prime minister mean by a welfare budget? After every 15 days, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority raises petroleum prices and in the last four years, prices of all essential items have skyrocketed. The prices of basic essential items have increased about 400 percent. It means 100 percent increase per year. Therefore, what does the prime minister mean by a welfare budget? Will he raise salaries, the income of daily wage earners up to 400 percent? Will he give the nation any workable remedy? By the time he presents the budget at the end of May, prices will have increased further. What solution does the prime minister have? The government will never decrease petroleum prices because the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other international lenders will not support the PM to fill the budget deficit. On the other hand, if he increases subsidy on petroleum products, again the IMF and other international lenders will not support it. How then will he give us a welfare or pro-poor budget? Suppose we are given 100 percent relief, who will take care of the other 300 percent increase in essential items? In every budget there are two types of taxes involved — direct and indirect taxes. The government has controlled budget deficits through direct and indirect taxes. We can get benefit of the last week’s budget proposal by President Barack Obama, who suggested 30 percent tax on the income of the wealthiest persons of America. He persuasively argued that it would be a step forward to fairness in a tax code tilted in favour of the wealthiest Americans. This way America will get $ 50 billion in the next 10 years. Can our government learn a lesson from Obama’s budget proposal?Pakistan is facing inequality in every field. The poor-rich gap has further widened. The inflation rate has terribly affected the poor and increased poverty many times. Two factors have contributed to the increase in poverty: one is consecutive floods in 2010 and 2011 and the second is the government failure to sustain the economy. The government has taken away most of the subsidy on different items of daily use. Millions of Pakistanis have been trapped in poverty in the last four years. These two factors have not affected the rich. The government must ensure that in the next budget, the benefits of economic growth are shared by all Pakistanis. The government must do a lot more to strengthen public institutions and sustain economic growth to foster broader prosperity. These include education, healthcare, social security and rehabilitation of millions of people affected by floods. This is a gigantic task, but at least the government can make a start.ALI KHUWAJAIslamabad