Upcoming Budget Proposal Reviewed by PM’s Aide before Cabinet Meeting

The adviser had the important meeting with Shabbar Zaidi who is Chairman at the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). Many other important personnel attended the meeting and discussed the several other proposals pertaining to the revenue target for the financial year 2019-20.

The Chief of FBR, Mr. Shabbar Zaidi has recently announced that he will be introducing long-term taxation reforms to provide the facility to the general public of Pakistan. He further added that the revenue board will not be conducting unnecessary audits of taxpayers anymore. Moreover, he explained that the government is contemplating providing duty relief on many raw materials in the upcoming budget. The FBR has also informed the World Bank (WB) on the tax reforms.

Currently, the government of Pakistan is planning to introduce some additional taxes that equal to PKR 775 billion in the upcoming budget through imposing sales and the income taxes. It is hopeful by the executives that they will be successful in collecting PKR 5.55 trillion through taxes for the financial year 2019-20.

The Chairman of FBR has informed the news sources during a briefing that the suggested measures for the expansion of the tax base is necessary in order to meet the revenue target. FBR has proposed the federal government to set their tax target collection bar to PKR 5.1 trillion.

The officials of the Finance Ministry and the FBR would be presenting their estimated budget for the recommendation in a meeting with the Federal Cabinet that is expected to take place today i.e. May 28, 2019. The budget strategy paper is expected to be shared along with the National Economic Council (NEC) on May 29, 2019.