Burdening the people

THE tax-heavy budget for the next fiscal year approved by parliament on Friday will make the life of average Pakistanis even harder and further deepen the trust deficit between the ruled and the rulers as it imposes an array of additional taxes that will directly hit low- to moderate-income households. The government has unloaded additional taxes of Rs1.7tr to meet its ambitious tax revenue target of Rs13tr, up by over 40pc from the outgoing fiscal year, to finance its growing expenditure and secure a new, larger bailout deal from the IMF. Every official, from the prime minister down, has tried to use this budget to present the hope of a great economic turnaround in the next few years, but questions are already being raised over the integrity of its targets and the measures it contains. The last-minute changes made in the finance bill, which imposed fresh tax measures of Rs200bn in addition to Rs1.5tr contained in the original bill just before its approval by parliament, betray the government’s lack of confidence in its own targets.