Skip to main content

Budget 2025-26 to further burden people, says Senate finance standing body chairman

The chairman of the Senate standing committee on finance and revenue, former finance minister Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, said on Tuesday that the upcoming budget will further burden the people due to an increase in the petroleum levy.

He was also critical of the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) performance, especially in terms of the Tajir Dost Scheme (TDS).

Under the TDS, taxes were to be collected from shopkeepers at a fixed rate of Rs100 to Rs60,000 per month based on the fair market value of the stores and sales. The scheme was implemented to bring traders and wholesalers into the formal tax structure to fulfill the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) requirement.

The former finance minister said the FBR had failed to bring more people under tax net, while responding to a query on DawnNewsTV show ‘Doosra Rukh’ on the board’s inability to raise Rs5.6 million under the TDS.

Mandviwalla criticised the “1960’s system” at the FBR and emphasised on the need to introduce officers who could use technology to improve the taxation system, giving examples of Turkey and India.

“Every year we hear the FBR will be reformed but it doesn’t happen.”

He also confirmed that the upcoming budget will be a “standard-type budget” and will be a burden on public’s pockets.

“I have no expectation of relief from the budget.”

The chief of the Senate standing committee on finance said the petroleum levy will be increased as to offset the shortfall of Rs700 billion revenue.

“Levy will be applied, public will pay for it and this is how budget’s deficit will be will be overcome.”

Last year, the federal government had set a target to collect Rs1.28 trillion through the petroleum levy in the fiscal year 2024-25, marking a 47.4 per cent increase over the previous year’s target.

In June, the government decided not to let the petroleum prices decline from Rs80, as it could trigger increased demand, encourage carbon emissions and cost higher foreign exchange.

Moreover, the government had also given an undertaking to the IMF to impose about Rs5 per litre carbon levy as part of the $1.3 billion Resilience and Sustainability Facility with effect from July 1.



from The Dawn News - Home https://ift.tt/IhvdykK
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Explainer: Iran’s economy faces rocky road amid rising prices, falling currency

Iran’s economy is going through one of its most difficult periods in years, fueled by sanctions, high inflation, and a significant drop in the value of the national currency, the rial. These pressures have had a direct impact on living standards and have also fueled recent protests. The protests began on Dec. 28 in commercial hubs in the capital Tehran, when shopkeepers, merchants, and small business owners staged strikes and demonstrations to protest soaring inflation, the collapsing rial, and deteriorating economic conditions, and have since grown into nationwide anti-government expressions of discontent involving workers, students, and others across multiple cities. The Iranian president said Sunday that his government is determined to address Iran’s economic problems amid the protests. Masoud Pezeshkian said the government admits to “shortcomings and problems” and is working hard to alleviate the people’s concerns, especially on the economy. Currency collapse at the centre of c...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mitchell Starc surpasses Wasim Akram as most prolific left-arm pacer in Test history

Australian veteran Mitchell Starc became the most prolific left-arm paceman in Test history on Thursday, surpassing Pakistan great Wasim Akram. The 35-year-old bagged England’s Harry Brook at the Gabba in Brisbane on day one of the day-night second Ashes Test for his 415th wicket since his debut at the same ground 14 years ago. It moved him past Wasim, widely recognised as the greatest left-arm bowler the sport has seen. Wasim played 104 Tests for his 414 wickets with Starc reaching the milestone in his 102nd, helped by a career-best 7-58 in the first innings of the opening Ashes Test at Perth. Starc is now 16th on the all-time wicket-taker list and could move above both India’s Harbhajan Singh (417) and South Africa’s Shaun Pollock (421) in the current pink-ball Test. After that he will have New Zealand’s Richard Hadlee (431) in his sights. from Dawn - Home https://ift.tt/xclHiX2
Post a Comment
Read more

Global reaction to potential Israel-Hezbollah ‘spiral of violence’

World leaders on Tuesday sounded the alarm over fears of a wider conflict after Lebanon suffered its deadliest day in two decades in Israeli air strikes on Hezbollah strongholds. After nearly a year of cross-border fire since the Gaza offensive erupted, Israeli bombardment on Monday killed 558 people in Lebanon, including 50 children, according to the country’s health ministry. The toll — the highest since Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah went to war in mid-2006 — raised fears of an all-out conflict engulfing the Middle East. ‘Tens of thousands’ flee: UN UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “gravely alarmed by the escalating situation… and the large number of civilian casualties, including children and women,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. “Tens of thousands of people were forced from their homes yesterday and overnight, and the numbers continue to grow,” United Nations refugee agency spokesman Matthew Saltmarsh said in Geneva. ‘Spiral of violence’: US Israel’s clo...
Post a Comment
Read more