Ishaq Dar defends ambitious budget targets

Finance minister says he believes in making difficult high targets.

ISLAMABAD: In a post-budget press conference, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar defended the ambitious targets set by the government in the budget for fiscal year 2014-15. 

"I believe in setting difficult targets," he said in regard to the 2014-15 budget.

"If we set easy targets from the beginning, as per our tradition, we will obviously deliver less," said the finance minister.

Praising the present government's performance, Dar said that the results are in front of the public, wherein the tax collection rose from 3% last year to 16.4% this year when the target was set at 20%.

Dar said that immediate results cannot be seen when it comes to industries, but the agriculture provides immediate results.

"As you saw yesterday, a very large package has been allocated to agriculture for the revival of this sector," he said, adding that the textile sector also received a large package.

In regard to livestock, Dar said that the current budget has introduced an insurance for livestock as a major chunk of loans is taken in this sector. He said that the government would cover the insurance for livestock. "The government will pay the premium," he added.

The finance minister also said that the present government wants to eliminate the culture of corruption, adding that an increase in taxes will bring about more revenue.

Dar added that leakages should be plugged legally in order to achieve the government's goals to eliminate corruption and bring about good governance.

He also said that he wants to end the culture of people not filing their taxes.

For retailers, Dar said that in order to bring non-tax payers in the tax-paying bracket, they will be approached in a friendly manner.

He said that chain stores that are not registered will undergo compulsory registration, as well as those stores that accept credit and debit cards and have an electricity bill of over Rs50,000 per month.

The government is working towards making these people part of the system, he said.