Public Support for Wealth and Progressive Taxes in Pakistan
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ICTD Policy Brief 17
Wealth taxes have become increasingly central in global debates about equitable taxation, particularly in the context of growing fiscal pressures, decreasing aid, and rising inequality. However, there is surprisingly little data on the nature and determinants of public support for these taxes in lower income countries, despite the importance of popular support to overcoming elite resistance. Drawing on a nationally representative survey of 7,500 individuals, this brief explores public support for wealth taxation and the factors that shape those attitudes in Pakistan. Three key findings emerge. First, support for wealth taxation is higher than may be commonly assumed, though highly dependent on the type of tax, with especially strong support for proposals to make income taxes more progressive. Second, support is not driven by self-interest: higher income individuals are in fact more supportive of wealth taxes. Instead, it is shaped by trust in the state and perceptions of its legitimacy. Third, wealth tax proposals that are clearly progressive, transparent, and include mechanisms for citizen input and earmarking enjoy significantly greater popular support. These findings offer practical insights into how tax policy can be designed and communicated to build political space for progressive tax reforms in Pakistan and other lower income contexts.
Max Gallien is a Research Fellow at the ICTD. His research specialises in the politics of informal and illegal economies, the political economy of the Middle East and North Africa and development politics. He completed his PhD at the London School of Economics. Max co-leads the informality and taxation programme with Vanessa, as well as the ICTD’s capacity building programme.
Dr. Umair Javed is an Assistant Professor at the Mushtaq Gurmani School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Lahore University of Management Sciences. He completed his PhD at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 2018, where he was a recipient of the LSE Centennial PhD Studentship.
His doctoral research focused on politics and practices of accumulation, and labour relations in Pakistan's informal economy, with a specific focus on the retail-wholesale (bazaar) sector. More broadly, his research interests span various aspects of political participation, socio-economic development, and urban public life in South Asia.
Vanessa van den Boogaard is a Research Fellow at the ICTD and a Senior Research Associate at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. She completed her PhD thesis on informal revenue generation and statebuilding in Sierra Leone, and has ongoing research on the topic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Somalia. Vanessa leads the ICTD’s new programme on civil society engagement in tax reform and co-leads the research programme on informal taxation.
Citation: Gallien, M.; Javed, U. and van den Boogaard, V. (2025) Public Support for Wealth and Progressive Taxes in Pakistan,
ICTD Policy Brief 17, Brighton: Institute of Development Studies, DOI: 10.19088/ICTD.2025.038
