LAHORE - Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb has once again reiterated that the taxes are essential to ensure national progress and sustained economy and we all would have to contribute to this cause as now there is no space for relaxation on paying taxes. “Taxes would be imposed on all traders without exception and at all costs,” the finance minister said this in clear terms while directly addressing to the traders and business community, who are expressing concerns over, what they claim, the unjustified and high taxes on them.
He said that the government is committed to meeting an ambitious revenue target projected in the budget FY25 and taxes would be imposed on all traders without exception and at all costs. He explained that the rise in the tax target is made up of a 48% increase in direct taxes and a 35% hike in indirect taxes over revised estimates of the last fiscal year. Non-tax revenue, including petroleum levies, is seen increasing by 64%.
“We will definitely address the problems that the budget for the next fiscal year has brought for traders,” Aurangzeb said.
“The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has developed a mistrustful and distrustful image. We need to fix the FBR. The FBR system is being digitized to eliminate human intervention. Restructuring the FBR is crucial. We will work with the FPCCI research cell to determine strategies for boosting exports and running the industry efficiently. Although work on Independent Power Producers (IPPs) was done during the previous government with government sovereign guarantees, we are reviewing these agreements and if issues with distribution companies are not resolved, electricity prices will continue to rise. The budget has increased financing for SMEs, and domestic investors are as important as foreign investors,” he stated.
Advocating for broad reforms to guide the economy out of its current challenges, he called for the closure of redundant federal government departments. “We need to shut down the ministries that have been devolved to the provinces,” he said.
