PM rejected IMF's demand for imposing new taxes on masses: Tarin

ISLAMABAD: Federal Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin on Saturday said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had refused the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) about imposing new taxes on the masses, ARY News reported.

Addressing the National Assembly session, Shaukat Tarin said that the government would not put tax burden on the poor.

He maintained that the government’s business friendly policies are bearing fruit, adding that the country’s growth rate improved despite COVID-19 crisis. The finance minister said that the growth rate for the next year had been estimated at 5 per cent.

Lashing out at the PML-N leadership, he said that the country’s foreign reserves had fallen owing to the wrong policies adopted by the past governments.

Earlier on June 25, the federal government had slapped a tax on talking on a mobile phone for more than five minutes. This was announced by Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin while winding up the budget discussion in the National Assembly.

He had said speaking over your cellphone for more than five minutes will be taxed at 75 paisas, but there will be no tax on an SMS.

Finance minister Shaukat Tarin had said the government will seek a third party’s help for action against the tax defaulters. “Arrest will be made after legal formalities.”