The federal and Punjab governments have presented growth-oriented budgets for fiscal year 2021-22, said Punjab Finance Minister Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakht.
Speaking at a two-day post-budget convention of the All Pakistan Chambers on Thursday, he highlighted that Punjab earmarked Rs560 billion for development programmes in the provincial budget, which was 66% higher than the previous budget.
He assured convention participants that the government believed in holding prior consultation and facilitating the business community.
Read: Initiatives launched to steer business
“The provincial government will continue to aid traders by ensuring tax relief and incentive packages for various sectors of the economy, especially the export-oriented sectors,” he said. “The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is paying attention to human resource development and a number of solid steps have been taken for public well-being.”
He announced that the government was in the process of introducing effective and comprehensive measures for infrastructure development.
“The provincial leadership believes in equal and composite development across Punjab with greater attention to south Punjab as it has been deprived of its due share of development and budgetary allocation for a long time,” he said.
At the conference, the businessmen issued a joint declaration, which called for addressing the genuine reservations of the business community before approval of the federal budget 2021-22.
In the document, the traders demanded a formal announcement by the government for withdrawal of Clause 203(A) from the Income Tax Ordinance.
Section 203(A) empowers some Inland Revenue officers to arrest people who have concealed income or for any offence warranting prosecution under the ordinance on the basis of material evidence.
The document also called for rescinding the proposal to impose hefty fines on importers if they were unable to complete paperwork for the redemption of shipments.
Read more: Govt lauded for business-friendly budget
The steep increase in tax target for fiscal year 2021-22 should not overburden the existing taxpayers and it should be met by expanding the tax base, the businessmen stressed.
Similar to sales tax refunds, the income tax refunds should also be paid through the new centralised automated refund system, they said.
Participants of the convention called for capping energy tariff for all sectors of the economy at 7.5 cents per unit to reduce the cost of doing business for industries and enhance competitiveness of exporters.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 25th, 2021.
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