Foreign observers may find it odd that citizens have given up their constitutional rights with so little fuss. This is because they take such rights for granted, whereas in Bangladesh, they never really existed. Rights such as education, safety or justice had to be purchased time and again from corrupt officials or the private sector. No doubt, it was a very expensive arrangement for most.

Being financially solvent (for the moment) allows the current administration to function outside the political-economic logic that encourages and necessitates corruption in Bangladesh. But this cannot last long. At some point the new reality will dawn; the responsibility for pay-rolling a massive civil administration on an inadequate budget. What happens then?

The daunting task before them is to reform the old bureaucracy that is so habituated to theft, through a combination of need and greed. Even if greed can be curbed, what will replace the "need-portion" that both initiates and completes the logical circuit of corruption? Will the caretaker government suddenly increase the salaries of officials in line with international standards? Will they do what no previous administration could: will they raise taxes to create public "good" for the nation or will they lie, cheat, and steal their way through the dilemma of revenue creation?

It seems necessary to make an example of corrupt politicians and ministers for others to change their bad habits. But this does not necessarily benefit the public good, beyond the establishment of justice, until further steps are taken. It should be recognized that money stolen by corrupt bureaucrats and politicians is really taxes lost and potential budgets tied to constitutional law, such as the universal right to life, education, personal safety and basic health unrealized. Thus, step one requires the government convert corruption into taxation and step two requires expenditure for the public good.

The bureaucratic engine still runs on money, which will fail when money runs out. The quick and dirty fix is corruption, and acts like adulterated petrol which slowly reduces its power, but with certain failure looming. Human rights, citizen rights, national welfare, poverty reduction, employment creation -- all require monetary budgets, and are only fantasy until a universal policy of taxation is implemented. International proponents of human rights should realize that citizens in industrialized countries are constantly paying for their rights and freedoms through highly sophisticated redistribution systems. Rights don't exist in nature, and, just like money, they are a social creation with a calculable price tag.

If this discussion has tempered the glimmer of hope for reform, we should draw strength and motivation from the potentially huge reward that would follow a universal taxation on income policy:

Universal taxation will justify immediate employment opportunities in much needed sectors of public service provision such as flood protection, road works, provision of safe drinking water, waste collection, recycling, and community policing. This arrangement will provide income and useful skills for the unemployed while simultaneously delivering constitutional rights (safety, security, right to life) to the general public. The economy will grow to spread wealth and spending power within poor communities, thereby reducing poverty.

Universal taxation will reduce dependency on foreign actors, while increasing dependence on the local citizenry, thereby localizing the arena of social dialogue. Increased dependency on the citizenry will vitalize concepts such as governance and accountability, through the realization that corruption translates into the waste of citizens own earnings rather than foreign taxpayers'.

Universal taxation will re-vitalize democratic culture (obviously at an all-time low), by forcing the citizen to contribute time, effort, labour and funds to the government, thereby creating immediate self-interest and opinion regarding its proper use. Citizen interest and awareness can then be tapped by civil society groups to form public opinion necessary to steer and support the civil administration.

The question whether to tax or not tax income on a universal basis (able working adults) is never up for debate in industrial countries. The fact the taxation is now debatable in Bangladesh is a result of peculiar circumstances in which a governance tradition of exploitation has remained at the core of public policy. If this seems controversial, consider, that in reality, policy is what policy does, whatever is written on paper.

One may argue that indifference in policy for the many and selective patronage for the few is not the same as thing as exploitation. Exploitation, as a judgment on government policy would have to be validated by some sort of systematic expropriation of surplus at the expense of citizens' well-being.

Consider the link between corruption and poverty. Corruption is best conceptualized as theft of public assets. Stolen tax revenues should be considered stolen not from the individual tax-payer but the general public within which impoverished citizens have been recognized as especially deserving of assistance. Here is the argument for systematic exploitation:

1. Voters in Bangladesh have during successive regimes given legitimacy to respective governments, by which political leaders earn the right to monopolize power and revenue expropriation for the public good. Power is thus "surrendered" to the winner of the election, in good faith.

2. Successive regimes have managed to centralize power by forbidding tax revenue collection on income at the local level. This has left union and thana level administrations powerless to assist their citizens, and forced into a dependency relationship with the center, securing the culture of patronage politics.

3. Most "would-be" public goods and services have an unofficial price tag high above that which can be afforded by the poor. Not even safety, the most important theme of the social contract, can be guaranteed, and most people find themselves engaged in private or small collective security agreements. Universal education and skills training, perhaps the only viable means for empowerment among the rural poor, has never been made compulsory, never properly budgeted for, leaving individuals struggling to survive in cities where agricultural skills have no use.

4. Successive regimes have institutionalized public theft with such sophistication that salaries within the bureaucracy need not be funded by tax revenues, but can survive on illegal expropriation of "would-be" taxes and foreign aid.

In short, the policy of exploitation has allowed successive governments to survive without taxation to the detriment of society that now has to pay a much higher premium for constitutional rights. In the process of monopolizing power and creating dependence on the centre, most citizens have been left in a prison with few options for survival. Thus, poverty has been created as a result of public policy, whether official or not.

The real golden opportunity lies in realizing the causes of state failure. Dreaming of honest leaders is pointless, Bangladeshis should legislate and implement their wishes. Perhaps the current situation will encourage the bureaucracy to implement a universal policy of taxation, which, as argued, will return to citizens, who will monitor their investments, in the form of public goods and services.