KARACHI: Chairman of FPCCI Advisory Board and National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum Mian Zahid Hussain said that people finding it harder and harder to live with this budget. Every necessity of life has become very expensive and out of most people reach.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that while non-filers and tax defaulters find novel ways to avoid taxes, existing taxpayers will be forced to bear the burden of the government’s new tax measures to boost collection.

He said the volume of the current budget is Rs18500 billion. Despite the taxes of Rs12900 billion, an increase of 40%, it has a deficit of Rs8500 billion. He said the government must borrow Rs5700 billion to bridge the gap. The current budget has set aside Rs10000 billion for debt servicing. In contrast, next year, Rs11000 billion will be required. Taxes must be increased by another Rs5000 billion but the budget deficit will remain the same.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that changes and experiments have been made in every sector of business activities, including exports, in the current budget. As a result of these experiments, it is widely feared that the economy will be damaged if exports decrease by $4 billion to $5 billion.

He said the export sector should have been left alone to function peacefully. The tax burden on the salaried class has been increased. Government spending, salaries, and pensions of top officials have increased, but ordinary people have been left behind.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that the government has claimed to work on pension reforms and the imposition of tax on traders. Still, this work will continue until the next budget, while efforts will be made to save costs by closing some departments.

He noted that if all the economic activities were digitized, the term non-filer would be automatically abolished, the tax base would be widened, and the government would get the tax comfortably.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that due to the measures proposed in the budget, the traders will not come into the tax net at any cost. Still, they will be attracted to the cash economy.

He said that public anxiety is growing in masses and businesses. Still, the government is not ready to follow the suggestions of FPCCI, the largest organization in the business community, which is a mistake. FPCCI is still prepared to support the government in bringing the country out of economic recession, increasing exports, broadening the tax net, and providing convenience to the people, he said.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024