Top US lawmaker says greater sacrifice by aid recipients required to sustain generosity of American people

Representative Nita Lowey, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives Subcommittee that manages US aid flows, warned on Wednesday that countries that get US aid, such as Pakistan, will have to shoulder more of the burden for their own growth as Washington eyes deep cuts in overseas assistance.
"Greater sacrifice by aid recipients is required to sustain the generosity of the American people," Lowey said. "For example, Pakistan, which receives $1.5 billion per year in civilian aid alone, has one of the lowest effective tax rates in the world," Lowey said in an opinion column in the online politics and public affairs magazine Politico.
"Fewer than 3 million of the 175 million Pakistanis pay any taxes, and tax evasion is particularly high among the wealthy, according to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace," said Lowey.
Her message echoed US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's call in September 2010 for the US ally to increase taxes on its wealthiest earners in the wake of devastating floods that did an estimated 9.7 billion dollars in damage.