ISLAMABAD: The government is determined to reduce the rate of sales tax on the improvement of economy in the country. Tax recovery has increased by 62% during the era of current government.
Parliamentary Secretary for Finance Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan, Friday, while responding to a question asked by member National Assembly Belum Hasnain informed the House that tax recovery would increase by 80% during this fiscal year, in case the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) would achieve the revenue collection targets.
In response to another question, he said that there was no dual taxation on income in the country and government was quite determined to reduce the rate of sales tax on achieving economic stability.
He further informed the House that situation of recovery of loans had improved in the country and due to a stabilized economic situation international monetary institutions were providing loans to Pakistan on one to two percent lesser interest rate.
He said that the government was also pursuing the policy of repaying the loans to the international lenders and had paid $ 12 billion loans which had been taken by the previous governments, even then the foreign exchange reserves stood at $ 24 billion.
Replying to another question asked by Perveen Masood Bhatti, Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan said that the Finance Ministry would act upon the rules and regulations prescribed by the State Bank of Pakistan for the establishment of branch of a bank in the Parliament House. If any bank submits application in this regard, the Finance Ministry will act as per the licensing policy of the State Bank of Pakistan.
He further said that notification for the new and revised service rules for Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) would be issued in next one or two months and it would enable government departments to make fresh recruitments of employees.
He added that Privatization Commission prepared a list of 69 state owned entities (SOEs) for privatization in October 2013 and Cabinet Committee on Privatization (CCOP) had approved 40 SOEs for early execution of privatization process.
