The National Assembly on Wednesday passed the Finance Bill 2022, following the presentation of the budget on June 10 which had been objected to by the International Monetary Fund.
Following the objections to the budget from the IMF, the government was forced to make amendments. Finance Minister Miftah Ismail had announced implementation of additional taxes, which he stated amounted to Rs466 billion.
The measures announced included 2.5 percent income tax implementation on the people earning more than Rs50,000 along with a super-tax on 13 big sectors including cement, steel, banking, airlines, textile, automobile assembling, sugar mills, beverages, oil and gas, fertilizers, cigarettes, chemicals, and LNG terminals.
The Petroleum Levy Ordinance 1961 has also been amended and approved as per IMF demand of imposing a [gradual] tax levy up to Rs50. Other amendments made in budget included collection of sales tax from small traders in their electricity bills and five percent sales tax implementation on software and information technology (IT) consultants.
The government also agreed to the IMF’s demand of imposing a one percent poverty tax on companies earning more than Rs150 million, two percent on those generating an income of Rs200 million, three percent on those earning more than 250 million, and four percent on those earning more than Rs300 million.
