Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) stockbrokers have expressed disappointment over the federal budget 2018-19. "The Federal Budget for 2018-19 has disappointed the Stockbrokers/TREC Holders of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) as most of its proposals were ignored. Therefore, the index ended in negative territory," PSX Stockbrokers Association said in a statement on Monday.
The general feedback of the investors was that frequent changes in the Capital Gain Tax (CGT) regime have hurt the confidence of the investors, it added.
According to PSX Stockbrokers Association, the tax paid dividend continuous to be taxed at higher rate without taking into account that the dividend is distributed out of the tax paid income of the listed companies. The higher rate of CGT regardless of its holding period as against the previous holding period at various slabs and longer holding period has resulted in drastic fall of turnover.
Last year CGT collection was about 18 billion rupees whereas currently it is just a little over 1 billion. The net effect is that the government is the main loser and will continue to lose. The Stockbrokers/TREC Holders request the Finance Minister to take remedial measures before the budget is adopted by the parliament, it concluded.-PR