ISLAMABAD: The government has announced to impose 10 percent supertax on big industries, saying that the decision taken in the budget would take the country towards economic sovereignty and self-reliance. This was announced by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif while speaking after chairing the economic team meeting on Friday ahead of finance minister winding up the debate on the budget in the National Assembly.

The Prime Minister stated some important economic decisions have been taken in the meeting which he would like to share with the people.

The premier said that it has been decided to impose a 10 percent supertax on big industries including cement, steel, sugar, oil and gas, fertilizer LNG terminals, banking industry, automobile, chemicals, and beverages as well as on cigarette manufacturing.

The prime minister said that one per cent tax is being imposed on the income of those earning Rs150 million per annum, two percent on those earning Rs200 million, three percent on those earning Rs250 million, and four per cent on those having an annual income of more than Rs300 million.

These measures would take the country towards economic sovereignty and self-reliance, he added.

The sector of the cigarette industry was not paying full tax and it is the duty of the state to collect the tax. The prime minister said that there is Rs2,000 billion annual tax evasion and the government will use all the digital tools to plug the tax evasion. The prime minister said that he would form teams for this purpose soon after the budget.

He further stated these taxes have been imposed for economic development and to reduce poverty in the country. Amount collected through these taxes would be used on the welfare and development of the poor.

Super tax a one-time levy, will help narrow budget deficit: Miftah Ismail

Earlier, the prime minister said that this is the first budget being presented by the present government in the face of economic challenges and rising inflation in the country. Through the budget, he said that efforts have been made to lessen the hardships of the people against the price hike and urged the rich to help the government by paying their due share for the poor at this critical time.

He said that in the budget the government has given an economic vision to put the country on the path of economic development and to check the storm of inflation.

The prime minister said that important decisions have been taken and he wanted to take the people into confidence and inform them about the situation.

He said that the decisions taken aimed at two objectives with the first one to make a sincere effort to save the people of Pakistan from inflation and to provide some relief to the people against rising inflation in the country.

The second purpose behind this decision is to save the economy from bankruptcy and added that the present government wanted to stabilize the economy and bring about prosperity through hard work and honesty.

The prime minister said that the coalition government has taken bold decisions to get Pakistan out of this dire situation.

He added that after assuming the government there were two options for them either to announce elections by carrying out electoral reforms or to take difficult decisions and the coalition government opted for the second option for moving forward with courage for the economy.

The prime minister added that economic development and self-reliance leads to real freedom.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022