ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has rejected the International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s demand to impose income tax at cost of Rs150 billion on the salaried class.

"The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is successfully robbing the pockets of the people by raising taxes. The incumbent government is ready to impose a 10 percent tax on pension and provident funds. The PTI government is even levying taxes on travel allowances of people associated with the newspaper industry. The Budget 2021-22 is a document in which amnesty has been given to certain investors by taking money from people's pockets," Bilawal said in a statement on Tuesday.

Add the rising inflation and poverty rate with these taxes, and the people will be left with is a country at the brink of disaster, Bilawal said. "Due to Imran Khan's anti-people measures, hotel employees will no longer get a tax-free meal while on duty." He continued, "With the new budget, the "puppet" prime minister has also attacked employees of educational institutions who will no longer be able to provide free education to their children," the PPP chairman lamented.

He said that after the end of tax exemption, the hospitals would no longer be able to provide free or discounted treatment to their employees.

He also declared the efforts to abolish medical allowances of the salaried class as an anti-people measure.

"While chanting the slogans of the state of Madinah, Imran Khan has established an empire inspired by the tyrant kings of the past," the PPP chairman stated.

"They are squeezing the blood of the people with unbearable taxes and creating luxuries for the elite."

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021