Kolkata: Terming corruption as a "tax on common people", Pakistan's Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan on Saturday said the malady has stood in the way of his country's progress.

"Corruption is a tax on ordinary people. Corruption makes the poor poorer, makes the rich richer, it finishes merit system, and destroys institutions.

"The Third World is the Third World because of corruption. And corruption breeds when there is no political governance. When governance is okay, then that ends corruption," Imran told Bengali news channel ABP Ananda.

He said to usher in prosperity, corruption has to be booted out.

"When corruption is booted out, then we get good governance, and it leads to prosperity. If we are to usher in prosperity, we have to boot out corruption."

Arguing that prosperous countries had the least corruption, he referred to countries like Switzerland and New Zealand. "These countries don't have abundant resources, but because they have a clean government, they are prosperous."

"In contrast, look at Nigeria, Pakistan. We (Pakistan) have plentiful of resources, we have a vibrant population, but we are held back by corruption. We cannot move forward," he said.

Asked for his prescription to root out corruption, Imran said asset declaration was a must.

"If that happens, then whatever assets they don't declare, if that is caught, then the conclusion one can draw is they have either evaded tax or earned the money through illegal ways. This will contain corruption."