ISLAMABAD: Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Finance Rana Muhammad Afzal has regretted that 80 percent of the annual budget is consumed on government functionaries and only 20 percent is left for development and other public welfare projects.
He pointed out that there were only 800,000 taxpayers out of the total population of more than 180 million which did not paint a rosy picture of the country’s financial situation.
Parliamentary Secretary for Finance Rana Muhammad Afzal made the remarks while addressing members of Pakistan Yarn Merchants Association (PYMA).
He claimed that the government was making strenuous efforts to strengthen the economy and ensure public welfare. The government, he said, was striving for equal distribution of taxes among all regions across the country. He said the government was facing difficulty in fulfilling revenue targets hence it was duty of all businessmen and traders to discharge their responsibilities of paying their due taxes. He said that many countries of the world were ready to help Pakistan fight out the terrorism, adding that the government wanted to stand the nation on its feet by augmenting and utilising own resources in an appropriate manner.
Earlier, Pakistan Yarn Merchants Association Chairman Abaidullah Sheikh, in his welcome address, apprised him of the problems being faced by the businessmen.