Pakistan punishes tax dodgers with new measures to ensure telcos cut off their mobile phones

Pakistan has outlined measures to punish tax evaders by cutting off their mobile phone. The country has already taken the extraordinary step of naming over 506,000 of its citizens whom local authorities believe have not filed taxes, listing the numbers associated with SIM cards they're thought to use, and ordering those SIMs …

[Will Godfrey]

What cold possibly go wrong?

Oops. Someone got the wrong set of Sims, but now the victims have no way of contacting the authorities to correct the problem.

[Don Bannister]

Please file your overdue tax return using our App. Oh - you can't - we've cut you off for late filing ....

[Anonymous Coward]

Release the hounds

The Pakistan government needs to take a page from Louis Dobermann's diary. If you are having trouble as a tax collector, breed a giant scary dog and the job gets easier. Pakistan already has the Bully Kutta dog (The Beast of the East), which looks very hard to turn down. Not sure there is all that much shame in being named alongside half a million other people. Probably a badge of pride for some people.

[MatthewSt]

Throttling

Everyone knows that slow Internet is worse than no Internet. Limit it to 56k (wow, that used to be fast) and delay every other packet

[Missing Semicolon]

oh look

Another version of Social Credit

[JamesTGrant]

Oh no - my SIM is blocked. Better pop to the shop and get another one.

[Mobster]

It is the poor who can barely afford cell phones who will bear the brunt - political party leaders have always featured in all leaks of the super-wealthy hiding their wealth (e.g. the Panama Papers leaks), as have most of the high ranking officials of the military - I do not expect any of them to have any of their multiple SIMs blocked.

[Marty McFly]

Do we see where this is going...?

Eliminate cash. Pay with your cell phone.

Do something the government doesn't like. Today it is non-payment of taxes. Tomorrow it could be voicing the wrong opinion.

Get your cell phone blocked by a government bureaucrat, not a court of law. Can no longer buy goods or services, like food and basic necessities.

Ooooh, let's rewind the clock four years... "The shot is entirely voluntary. However, for collective safety, those without the shot will have their phones deactivated."

Are we really being that blind to the slippery slope we are being led down??