Common man to shoulder Rs2bn burden: Tarin on mini-budget

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin on Thursday rejected speculations regarding imposing additional taxes on the common man through Finance Supplementary Bill, 2021, saying “the bill just aimed at reviewing tax exemptions worth Rs342 billion,” ARY News reported.

Addressing a news conference flanked by Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib, the finance minister said that tax exemptions worth just Rs2 billion will be reviewed under the finance bill that was tabled in National Assembly today.

“No sales tax has been imposed under the bill on tractors, medicines and fertilizers,” he maintained and added that the government proposed only Rs2 billion tax exemptions on the items that can be related to the common man which would have a very negligible impact on inflation.

The finance minister went on to say that International Monetary Fund (IMF) had asked the federal govt to impose Rs700bn new taxes but the “incumbent government decided against imposing taxes on food and other essential items and brought it down to Rs 343 billion”.

Sharing further details about the mini-budget, the finance minister was of the view that taxes would be imposed on computers, vehicles, imported food items, smartphones and other items under supplementary finance bill.

“Rs 112 billion tax exemptions on machinery and Rs 160 billion tax exemptions on pharma sector would totally be refundable or adjustable,” he added.

Speaking on the SBP bill tabled in NA today, Shaukat Tarin said, “Under the State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill 2021, the SBP will be held accountable to Parliament.”