Islamabad February 15 2023: Pakistan’s Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar is presenting the mini-budget in the National Assembly, which has been named the Finance Supplementary Bill 2023 to impose additional taxes for meeting IMF condition.
It should be noted that the Federal Cabinet meeting was held immediately after the President’s ‘refusal’ to issue an ordinance yesterday, in which the Tax Amendment Bill, Finance Bill 2023 was approved.
He said that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) issued SRO 178 to increase the federal excise duty on locally produced cigarettes, which will raise PKR 60 billion from the tax levied on tobacco products.
Apart from this, the government is proposing to increase the general sales tax from 17 percent to 18 percent and the general sales tax rate on luxury goods from 17 to 25 percent. An amount of PKR 55 billion will be collected through increase in general sales tax.
The remaining PKR 55 billion will be collected by raising excise duty on airline tickets, sugary drinks and increasing the rate of withholding tax.
It is also proposed to impose 10 percent withholding adjustable advance income tax on marriage halls and Increase in federal excise duty on cement from PKR 1.5/kg to PKR 2/kg.
Ishaq Dar said that the federal government is aware that inflation is high, so we have tried to reduce the burden on the poor people. 40 billion rupees are being added to the Benazir Income Support Program while the import of five-year-old tractors has been allowed.
