ISLAMABAD: Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has termed the budget for fiscal year 2015-16 a poor-friendly, saying that the government has not increased prices of daily-use items including ghee, sugar, milk, pulses, edible oil, furnace oil and high speed diesel.
The finance minister, while addressing a post-budget press conference, said that additional taxes have been levied only on the affluent class and not the poor. He said the budget is pro-development and will strengthen the national economy.
Dar said the government has allocated Rs102 billion for Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) to help the poor and the destitute. He said more than 30,000 solar tube wells and support packages for widows are reflection of government’s resolve to help out the poor.
The minister said that government has not withdrawn Rs6.5 billion subsidy on wheat for the people of Gilgit-Baltistan. He said the government has given incentives to public employees by increasing their pay and pension by 7.5%. He said two ad-hoc relief allowances have been merged into the basic pay scales and income tax on salaries has been reduced from 5% to 2%.
The minister said that the government has withdrawn sales tax on mobile phones. “Prices of mobile phones have not been increased. In fact, they have been reduced,” he said. He said that the Rs300 raise in tax is only on expensive mobile phones, which are usually used by the rich. Tax on expensive mobile phones was Rs700, which has been raised to Rs 1,000 in the budget.
Dar said that neither any new tax has been levied on cooking oil and vegetable ghee nor on fertilizers. Similarly, no new tax has been proposed on local production of cement. Only imported cement has been taxed in order to protect the local industry, he added.
He said no new duty or levy on milk has been proposed. Only tax has been raised on packed yogurt and cheese as the same are used by the rich, he said.
Dar said that the government has announced steps in the budget to create some 2 to 2.5 million new jobs.
Sales tax on bricks and crushed stones had been waived for three years which would reduce the construction cost, he said. He said the solar tube-well project would help farmers using diesel-run tube-wells save Rs 1,600 per day and Rs 500 per day using petrol-run tube-wells.
The minister said that an allocation has been made in the budget for the census, which will be held in March-April, 2016.
Dar said that to discourage non-tax filers, the government has imposed 0.6% tax on all of their bank transactions.
Responding to a query whether super tax on banking companies would also be applicable on securities and bonds, he said that income of more than Rs 500 million from all sources including securities and bonds falls in this category. There are two to three individuals, eight AOPs and 170 companies falling under the category of super tax, he said.
The minister said the government has raised the allocation for Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal and had been doubled from Rs 2 billion to Rs 4 billion in order to provide medical treatment facility and other assistance to a large number of the needy.
Dar said on the demand of Sindh government, the federal government will establish Green Line Bus transit system in Karachi with a cost of Rs 16 billion by Dec 2016.
