ISLAMABAD: The federal government may impose new taxes or reduce development budget at it has to face Rs65-70 billion per annum loss in revenue after declining trend in prices of petroleum products.
Official sources said that defence expenditures and debt servicing could not be halted, so the deficit or loss could be overcome by slashing development budget or imposing new taxes. They said that this was discussed in a Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) meeting under the chair of Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Sunday afternoon.
Dar confirmed that the FBR had worked out an estimated loss of Rs65-70 billion in revenue for the current financial year on account of the decline in the prices of petroleum products. However, he refused to say something on imposing new taxes to bridge the gap of Rs70 billion in revenue, but said the government cannot slice defence budget or the amount earmarked for debt servicing.
According to a press release, the federal minister chaired the meeting of FBRin which he directed the Board officials to present an exact report on the relief so far been offered to general public on petroleum products, the revenue loss being incurred on this count, its impact on the budget and divisible pool and what measures they suggest to partially recover the losses.
