People want cheaper commodities
Say minimum wage is not enough to meet expenses
Say minimum wage is not enough to meet expenses. PHOTO: EXPRESS
ISLAMABAD:
As all eyes turned towards Parliament House, a few blocks away on the streets of the capital, people had scant interest over the Rs4.75 trillion federal budget.
Instead, their only concerns were with the rising prices of commodities such as food, gas and electricity ahead of the holy month of Ramazan.
A large number of people with whom The Express Tribune spoke with, showed a lack of understanding about the exercise and how it concerned the common man.
“The budget is not for us. It is for the rich,” said Waheed, who works as an office boy and earns around the minimum wage.
“The minimum wage has been raised to Rs15,000 a month, but honestly, who can run a family in this amount?” he asked.
He also pointed out how many government and private organisations had yet to pay lower staff the minimum wage specified in previous budgets.
Meanwhile, some traders and shopkeepers said they were keen to glean information about any new taxes which may have been levied on some products or whether the withholding tax rate had been increased for non-tax filers.
Another concern many raised was how government employees get a raise in almost every budget, but millions of people working in the private sector often have to wait for many years for a raise.
“There is a need to ensure that wages are raised in the private sector as well because house rents are raised every year, but our salaries are not,” complained Ahmed who works in a private company.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 27th, 2017.
As all eyes turned towards Parliament House, a few blocks away on the streets of the capital, people had scant interest over the Rs4.75 trillion federal budget.
Instead, their only concerns were with the rising prices of commodities such as food, gas and electricity ahead of the holy month of Ramazan.
A large number of people with whom The Express Tribune spoke with, showed a lack of understanding about the exercise and how it concerned the common man.
“The budget is not for us. It is for the rich,” said Waheed, who works as an office boy and earns around the minimum wage.
“The minimum wage has been raised to Rs15,000 a month, but honestly, who can run a family in this amount?” he asked.
He also pointed out how many government and private organisations had yet to pay lower staff the minimum wage specified in previous budgets.
Meanwhile, some traders and shopkeepers said they were keen to glean information about any new taxes which may have been levied on some products or whether the withholding tax rate had been increased for non-tax filers.
Another concern many raised was how government employees get a raise in almost every budget, but millions of people working in the private sector often have to wait for many years for a raise.
“There is a need to ensure that wages are raised in the private sector as well because house rents are raised every year, but our salaries are not,” complained Ahmed who works in a private company.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 27th, 2017.