The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry termed the first annual budget presented by PTI Government as quite taxing and burdensome for business class and the common man as it has further enhanced many taxes and abolished tax exemptions
ISLAMABAD (Pakistan Point News / Online - 12th June, 2019) The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry termed the first annual budget presented by PTI Government as quite taxing and burdensome for business class and the common man as it has further enhanced many taxes and abolished tax exemptions.Ahmed Hassan Moughal President, RafatFarid Senior Vice President and Iftikhar Anwar Sethi Vice President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that Budget 2019-20 has abolished zero-rating facility for five export-oriented industries that would enhance their production cost and make our exports more uncompetitive in international market.
They said that Pakistan badly needed to improve exports for revival of its economy, but doing away with zero-rating for export-oriented sector would thwart all efforts to enhance exports.Ahmed Hassan Moughal said that sugar, ghee and cooking oil were the items of daily use for common man, but government has enhanced ST on sugar from 8 percent to 17 percent and imposed 17 percent FED on ghee/cooking oil that would directly impact the common man.
He said that government has also enhanced taxes on some other items including sugary drinks, juices and home appliances that would add to the problems of general public. He said taxes on cement, steel and marble industries have also been increased that would hurt the construction industry and the poor people.He said the scope of sales tax on services has been expanded while income tax threshold has been reduced from 1.2 million to 0.6 million for salaried class and 0.4 million for non-salaried class that would put additional burden on these people. He said government has made manifold increase inadvance tax on dealers, commission agents and arhatisfor issuance or renewal of license, which was unjustified and stressed that government should reconsider this increase.
