Senate body wants mini-budget’s impact mitigated

Senators from both sides of the aisle took exception to some proposals of the recently tabled supplementary finance bill when the house standing committee on finance discussed its measures and listened to industry representatives on Thursday. Most members of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue agreed that the adverse effects of some measures on certain sectors should be mitigated. PPP Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, who chairs the committee, assailed the government’s policies for imposing more taxes on the existing taxpayers. “Pakistan has become a paradise for non-taxpayers,” he lamented. Mr Mandviwalla also disclosed that the aviation industry was not happy with a 20 per cent tax on first- and business-class air tickets. Treasury, opposition members join hands to criticise supplementary finance bill Senator Mohsin Aziz of PTI said that tax measures proposed in the supplementary finance bill, generally known as the mini-budget, would raise Rs510 billion instead of Rs170bn. “I reject this budget through my party,” he said, adding that passing the bill would be disastrous, though he agreed that the government had to swallow this bitter pill.