KARACHI: Former finance minister Shaukat Tarin Friday hit hard at incumbent rulers for levying 10 percent supertax on industry warning that it will trigger an avalanche of inflation and all small factories will be shut down.

Addressing a presser, the former finance minister lashed out at the government for putting 10 percent levy saying it would result in closure of many industrial units. He was of the view that the tax would destroy small trader and it would unleash a storm of inflation in the country.

He was of the view that if the government imposed fixed tax, then the big fish would have dodged it. He lamented that the government had put Rs43 million data in the dustbin saying that it was not the previous regime but the new rulers were taking the country towards bankruptcy.

Tarin said if the PTI were in power, they would have got oil from Russia at cheap rates. PTI Secretary General and former development minister Asad Umar also lambasted the coalition government for levying super tax saying that it would crush the economy, exacerbate inflation and joblessness in the country, besides increasing imports and sliding the country into economic disaster.

The premier further said that affluent individuals will also be subject to a “poverty alleviation tax”. He said 1 percent tax would be levied on individuals earning Rs150 million annually; 2 percent on those grossing more than Rs200 million; 3 percent on those racking up more than Rs250 million and 4 percent on individuals earning more than Rs300 million annually.

Umar in his press conference said: “This [super tax] is an attack on those sectors of the economy that have the potential of growth [...] that can increase production and livelihood [...] and this is the reason why the market lost 2,000 points during Shehbaz Sharif’s speech.

“You can clearly figure out from this how dangerous and fatal the budget is for the economy,” the former federal minister added.

Another PTI leader and former energy minister Hammad Azhar denounced the government’s super tax move saying it would further squeeze the formal sector of economy and traders would pass on the tax to customers in the shape of higher prices of commodities.