WEDNESDAY JUNE 24: Opposition's absence makes government's job easier: Finance Bill 2015 approved by National Assembly

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Tues-day approved "Finance Bill 2015" with some amendments to it in the absence of opposition members. The opposition members had left the House in protest against country-wide loadshedding of electricity, the government tried to persuade them to come back to the house but all its efforts were in vain.
Finance Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar presented "Finance Bill 2015" in the House. The House passed the Bill with some amendments presented by the Finance Minister. All the amendments submitted by the opposition parties were not considered due to their absence. According to amendments, the GST was reduced from 17% to 7% on pesticides; a 5% cut in Sales Tax on oil seeds and removal of customs duty on import of oil seed to give relief to farmers.
According to amendments, the government also withdrew a 5% General Sales Tax on poultry feed supplies, cattle feed, sunflower seed meal, rape seed meal and canola seed meal. The government has also exempted capital gain on disposal of securities for tax year 2015 and tax year 2016 where holding period is more than four years. Where holding period of a security is from 12 months to 24 months, tax rate is 12.5 percent and where holding period of a security is from 2 to 4 years, the rate of tax is 7.5 percent for Tax Year 2016.
As per an amendment in the Finance Bill 2015, no capital gains would be charged on disposal of securities for tax year 2015 and tax year 2016 where holding period is more than four years. It will also increase PIU (Per Indent Unit) for taking loan up to Rs 4000 and establishment of a Rs 20 billion fund with equal contribution by federal government and provincial governments to subsidise phosphate and potash fertilisers for increasing productivity of land.
According to amendment, the government has cut federal excise duty on beverages to 10.5 per cent from 12 per cent. A tax incentive package was given for cellular phone industry for manufacturing of mobile phones. Under the package, income tax exemption would be available for a period of five years, a 90 % depreciation allowance for plants, machinery and production line equipment used for manufacturing of mobile phones by the local manufacture of mobile phones duly certified by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority during the first year, customs duty and sales tax exemption on the import of plants, assembly line machinery and equipment.
The new budget, with a total outlay of 4.313 trillion rupees is growth- oriented, with special emphasis on attracting investment, improvement in infrastructure and providing relief to the common man. Under the Benazir Income Support Program allocations have been enhanced to 102 billion rupees and the budget of Baitul Maal has been doubled from two to four billion rupees.
The target for GDP growth rate for the next fiscal year has been kept at 5.5 percent which would be taken to seven percent by 2017-18. Special incentives have been given to various sectors of exports including product diversification, value addition, trade facilitation, enhanced market access and institutional strengthening.
After the passage of the Budget-2015-16, the Finance Minister thanked the members of Lower House as well as Upper House of Parliament. He said while addressing the House that he feels sorry due to the absence of opposition members in the House and said that they tried their level best to persuade them. "I would have been very happy if the opposition stayed in the House during the passage of budget," he said.
The Finance Minster said, we should keep the economy of the country separate from politics and "I invite all political parties to sign Charter of Economy (CoE) for medium and long term economic development of the country." He said that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is a game-changer for the country. He said that the government has spent Rs 14.5 billion, which is not part of budget, on on-going military operation Zarb-e-Azb and Rs 10.98 billion on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).