The Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday said the government is trying to increase employment opportunities and introduce policies to promote the ease of doing business.
Presenting the budget, Dar said industries and exports should be encouraged to play their part in increasing the country’s foreign exchange reserves.
FinMin Dar said imposing taxes on the rich is the leading principle of the government’s taxation policy, and the tax was imposed on high-earning individuals.
Besides, he added that the 10% super tax was imposed on 15 businesses and sectors earning up to Rs150 million in the last budget.
He said measures had been proposed to convert the super tax into progressive taxation by increasing its tax percentage.
Dar-led Ministry of Finance has proposed the imposition of a 10% withholding tax on the bonus shares (in-kind dividend) as the finance minister said that some companies, in order to skip taxes, issue bonus shares instead of cash dividends.
The finance minister said not only was there a need to increase the foreign exchange reserves of the country, but loopholes dwindling the reserves required to be eliminated as well.
In this regard, he said withholding tax has been increased from 1% to 5% for tax filers, while non-filers will pay a 10% withholding tax on international transactions to discourage the outflow of foreign currency through debit and credit cards and other banking channels.
