LAHORE: The Punjab government has neither imposed a new tax nor added any new sector to the domain of sales tax on services, said sources.

However, they said, a minor tax adjustment would be carried out as the government is considering to enhance sales tax on ride hailing (online taxi service) from the existing four percent to five percent. It may be noted that the Punjab government had reduced sales tax on services from 16 percent to five percent, which is continuing till date. It has helped the government in achieving proper documentation of the services sector besides avoid shifting more burdens on less privileged sectors in the province.

The Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) has become major revenue earner of Punjab government, meeting some 60 percent revenue needs of the province. All the development needs of the province are being met through the PRA. There are some 73 services sectors, containing multiple sub-sectors, taking the total number to 150. Sources from the Authority said the time has come to shift towards negative services sector approach to bring all the sectors to the tax net. Though, a big gap yet exists.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023