Adviser to Sindh Chief Minister, Mohammed Tariq Hassan said the budget would provide relief to general public. Addressing a seminar on the budget, organised by the Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (Kati) on Thursday, he said the budget carries few new taxes, which were absolutely necessary.
The adviser said that taxes were imposed to fulfil government obligation and carry out development work. He said this was the last budget, as after elections new government would be formed.
Referring to a question that prices of certain items have gone up after budget, he assured business community that the government might review taxes where prices had gone up. Regarding Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP), he said the government had allocated Rs 520 billion under this head and added that massive development programmers would be initiated soon.
Tariq Hassan admitted that corruption was armpit in Pakistan and emphasised the need of making comprehensive efforts to overcome this menace. Referring to power crisis in the city, he said the government was well aware of problem and assured that he would take-up the matter of poor performance of KESC with prime minister for seeking his guidance to make KESC to perform as per privatisation agreement.
He said that in case of failure to improve performance on the part of KESC, the prime minister might be asked to de-nationalise the organisation. Speaking on the occasion, prominent economist Dr Shahid Hussain criticised the budget and said that no efforts were made to broaden tax base by taping agriculture sector, which has tax generating potential of Rs 50 billion.
He emphasised the need of expending large scale manufacturing sector, which has registered a decline in 2006-07. He also criticised the increase in gap between imports and exports and termed it an alarming situation. Former President of FPCCI, SM Munir said that textile sector passing through serious crises and around 125 to 150 textile units had gone out of production.
He demanded that tax incentives should be given to textile sector to save it from total collapse. Munir also criticised 5 percent tax imposed on the import of machinery and demanded that it should be zero-rated. Referring to KESC, he said that 15 to 20 days time should be given to KESC to improve its working otherwise it should be de-nationalised. He urged political parties to restrain from giving strike calls, which adversely hit daily-wage workers.
SM Munir appreciated the increase in minimum wages of unskilled workers and added that minimum wages should be at least 100 dollars per month or Rs 6,000 per month.
Charted Accountant, Mushtaq Vohra said that cost of doing business in Pakistan was 30 percent higher than Bangladesh and other countries in the region and added that efforts should be made to reduce utility charges.
Tax Consultant, Rashid Malik said the items on which tax had been zero-rated would have very little impact on general public. He said that the prices of iron, steel, plastic, paper industry would go up as a result of increase in sales tax from 15 percent to 20 percent.
Welcoming the guests, Kati Chairman Masood Naqi proposed that a committee comprising all the associations related to industries should be formed to suggest proper utilisation of PSDP allocation for infrastructure development.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.