Higher taxes on property, vehicles, overseas card payments – Agriculture machinery, solar panels become cheaper

ISLAMABAD, June 10: he federal government has tabled the annual budget for the fiscal year 2022-23 in the National Assembly with a total outlay of Rs9.505 trillion, of which Rs7.4 billion will be financed by taxes and non-tax revenues.
The government will be spending a whopping Rs3.950 trillion, over 41% of the total budget, on the repayment of debt and the payment of interest on loans. Rs1523 billion have been allocated for the defense budget and Rs800 for the public sector development programs (PSDP).
The PMLN-led government has earmarked Rs699 for targeted subsidies and Rs1242 has been allocated for grants including the money for Benazir Income Support Program (BISP). The allocation for BISP has been increased from Rs250 billion to Rs364 billion.
Federal Finance Minister Miftah Ismail presented the budget in the National Assembly. The government has proposed changes in customs duty, additional customs duty and regulatory duty on 400 items related to the manufacturing sector.
The minister said that in the outgoing fiscal year, the fiscal deficit was 8.6% of the GDP and the government plans to lower it to 4.9% of the GDP. He said public debt increased to Rs44.365 trillion in the outgoing fiscal year which was 72.5% of the GDP, though the cap under the law was 60% of the GDP.
In the next fiscal year, the government has set an Rs7,004 billion revenue target for the FBR, while Rs2,000 will come from non-tax revenues. The government expects $32 billion in remittances from overseas workers.
Government employees will get a raise of 15% while pensioners are getting a 5% raise. The pensioners were given a 10% raise in April this year. The increase in salaries of government employees will cost Rs71.59 billion to the exchequer. Private sector employees will also benefit as the government has increased tax exemption for salaried persons by moving up the lowest tax slap from Rs600,000 to Rs120,000. – TLTP