Govt to impose Rs876bn in new taxes

The Shahbaz Sharif-led government will impose Rs876 billion in new taxes in the budget 2022-23.

As per the details, Federal Finance minister Miftah Ismail on Friday will wind up the discussion in the National Assembly for the next fiscal year budget 2022-23.

As per the details, the total outlay of the budget will be Rs9.9 trillion from Rs9.5 trillion as the incumbent government after the approval of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed to impose Rs436 billion more taxes.

Overall, the government will impose Rs876 billion in new taxes in the budget 2022-23 to meet the revenue target of Rs7.42 trillion.

sources said that the government after the IMF demand agreed to slap an Rs1,200 tax on salary earners of Rs50,000 to Rs100,000 and a 2.5% income tax on earnings from Rs600,000 to Rs1.2 million per annum.

Earlier, the Finance minister in the budget speech had proposed to exempt up to Rs1.2 million in annual salaried income from tax.

Sources said the government also decided to impose a 1% Income Support Levy on people and companies earning Rs150 million a year, 2% on those having an income of Rs200 million, 3% additional rate has been proposed for the Rs250 million annual income earners and 4% for Rs300 million annual income.

In the budget, the government had proposed a 2% rate for only those earning over Rs300 million a year and Rs38 billion in additional revenues.

Apart from this, the government has fixed the Rs750 billion petroleum development levy target for the next year and the government will impose a Rs 50 per litre maximum PDL on petroleum products by March 2023.

The primary budget surplus target will be Rs152 billion whereas the overall budget deficit target will also be at Rs3.8 trillion or 4.9% of Gross Domestic Product.

The pension budget has also been increased to Rs609 billion from Rs530 billion, running the civilian government to Rs600 billion from Rs550 billion after the IMF concerns as these have been understated in the budget.

Sources said that the subsidy amount has also surged to  Rs680 billion from Rs530 billion for next year.

This has been increased keeping in view the base tariff of electricity which have reached to Rs24 per unit.

sources said that the government has also decided to include some 60 new projects and these would be incorporated in next year’s PSDP after the approval from CDWP before June 30, 2022.