Federal budget to be tabled in NA on June 11

Speaker Qaiser confident Rs8,000b budget will sail through lower house

ISLAMABAD:

The federal government on Friday summoned the National Assembly session on June 11 to present the budget for the fiscal year 2021-22.

Adviser to PM on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan and National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser held a meeting to decide the schedule of the budget.

The budget will be tabled by Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin after which it will be presented in the Senate.

Read: Secretary replaced before budget

Confident that the Rs8,000 billion budget would sail through the lower house of parliament, Qaiser said, “We will be presenting a people-friendly budget."

The budget for the pension of the government employees is estimated at Rs470 billion. It has been recommended that no new taxes should be imposed on the salaried class.”

The budget will increase the size of the economy to Rs52,057 billion and the economic growth rate will be 4.8 per cent in the upcoming budget, according to budget documents.

According to sources, the defence budget is expected to be more than Rs1,400 billion and tax revenue is expected to be Rs5,820 billion.

“The next national budget is likely to extend the amnesty period for the construction sector. With the consent of the IMF, the term of the construction amnesty scheme will be extended. Under the ordinance, the period may be extended for three or six months,” the sources added.

‘Proposals to withdraw some income tax exemptions’

According to the Federal Board of Revenue sources, some tax exemptions might be withdrawn in the upcoming budget as part of additional revenue measures.

A proposal to withdraw income tax exemption of more than Rs20 billion is under consideration. “In the next budget, income tax exemption on medical allowance to the salaried class may be abolished,” the sources said, adding that tax exemptions for various sectors may be abolished in the next fiscal year.

“In the next budget, tax revenue could be Rs5,820 billion and non-tax revenue Rs1,420 billion,” they added.

The personal income tax measures mean that some financial burden will be put on the salaried individuals and the business income persons. In addition to this, there could be rationalisation and withdrawal of income tax exemptions on house loans, education expenses, health insurance and tax credit for investment in shares.

The government has already implemented Rs81 billion worth of corporate income tax-related measures through a presidential ordinance.

Earlier, the sources said that half of the Rs30 billion tax measures are related to withdrawal of tax exemptions and about Rs10 billion pertain to adjustment of tax slabs for both the salaried persons and non-salaried business income ones.