PTI lashes out at govt for ‘regressive’ economic measures

Tarin wonders why PTI’s slabs were forgone for imposition of ‘crippling’ taxes

ISLAMABAD:

Former federal ministers Shaukat Tarin and Asad Umar on Sunday lashed out at the incumbent government for its “regressive” economic measures.

Slamming the government for hiking taxes, Tarin, who was the finance minister in the previous government, advised it to follow the previous taxation regime introduced by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government and to generate additional revenue by broadening the tax base, enforcing tax collection through points of sale (POS), automating the supply chain, using the track and trace system, and pursuing single-window operations.

“Why are you not pursuing our five programmes of broadening, using POS, supply chain automation, track and trace and single window to increase taxes. We added Rs1.4tr revenue this year and would have added Rs1.9tr in 2023 without crippling new taxes,” he tweeted.

On the other hand, Umar, the former planning minister, tweeted that the country made rapid progress in IT exports during the last two years of PTI’s rule. But, he lamented, the “regressive measures” in the new budget were threatening this growth.

“One of the most exciting things in last couple of years was rapid increase in IT exports. This industry can revolutionise Pak economy. We had made plans for massive investment in training people in tech skills. Regressive measures in the new budget are threatening this growth,” he wrote.

In another tweet, he said that the “incompetent” and “imported government” was struggling to handle the energy supply chain. He said that a massive shortfall was expected in the next few weeks due to the government’s inability to procure liquified natural gas (LNG).

“Remarkable how many different ways they are damaging the economy in such a short period of time,” he added. (With input from DNA)