- No new taxes as KPK allocates more for power and energy sectors
PESHAWAR, October 15: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa unveiled a budget with an outlay of over Rs648 billion for the remaining eight months of the ongoing fiscal year 2018-19, showing Rs30 billion surplus with a development outlay of Rs180 billion.
Delivering the budget speech in the assembly session which met with Speaker KP Assembly Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani in the Chair, Minister for Finance Taimur Saleem Khan Jhagra said that since upliftling of poor segments of the society was the top priority, the government has not revised the rate of any provincial tax.
He said the government is making concentrated efforts to strengthen taxation recovery system; however, it will not impose any new tax on the people.
He said the current revenue receipts are 7.5 percent above Rs603 billion of the outgoing fiscal year.
The minister also announced an increase of 10 percent ad-hoc relief in salaries and pensions in addition to 50 percent raise in house rent of the provincial government employees in budget 2018-19.
Giving breakup of the provincial receipts, he said they included Rs426 billion from the federal government which included Rs360bn under the federal taxes and Rs233bn as royalty oil and gas.
Similarly, the province will obtain Rs65bn as net hydel profit including Rs38bn net profit arrears. Jhagra said that the own receipts of the province have been pitched at Rs23.82bn from its taxes and Rs17.439bn from non-tax sector. As much as Rs71 billion have been pitched as foreign grant in 2008-19, showing 11 percent increase over the outgoing year. – PR
