KARACHI: Federal Minister for Finance Abdul Hafeez Sheikh has said that the elite class of the country is not ready to pay taxes, but next budget would seize their sweet dreams.
He was speaking to a pre-budget seminar held on Sunday under the aegis of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI).
He said that the tax payers may take the sigh of relief but the tax evaders cannot escape for the long time. He said that the poor people really deserve for the relief.
He said that cheap electricity is the major problem of the country. The government has not any source to produce electricity at compatible price, whereas a hefty subsidy of Rs 1,000 billion was given to the people but now the country cannot afford to provide electricity at cheaper rate than the production cost.
He said he wants to implement General Sales Tax (GST) at uniform rate, but the parliament is not agreed on it. He said that all the additional taxes would be abolished gradually. There should be only income tax and GST in the country. Federal Excise duty cannot be finished at once, but it would cease to end in next couple of years.
The Finance Minister said the agricultural tax is implemented in the country but the provinces are not interested to collect it, however, after passage of 18th amendment, the federation has not any authority to impose or collect tax on agriculture income.
“The elections are near but some people think that next budget would be political. But I assure that there would not be any politics on the next budget. As it would professional budget, in the interest of the country”, Hafeez added.
He said that the creating job opportunities and fulfilling the fiscal targets would be the silent feature of the next budget. The government did not increase the tax rate for the last three years and this time it would not be enhanced too. Efforts are being made to reduce the tax from poor and to simplify the taxation system.
He said if the oil prices would not increase in international market, then Pakistan would be able to perform well on the economic front during next financial year. Due to efforts of the government, the total GDP growth remained 3.7 percent during current fiscal year, whereas the exports of the country raised to 29 percent and 50 percent increase was recorded in remittances resulting the foreign exchange has reached to 18.3 billion dollars.
The finance minister told the audience that Pakistabn has not taken a single penny from IMF since 2010, rather 800 million dollars had been repaid to it so far.
He said that the country would not only has to create a balance between payments and collections to get rid of the issue of circular debts but also prevent the theft of electricity. Online
