Rs11 trillion in tax exemptions over five years questioned in National Assembly

The Finance Ministry has informed the National Assembly that tax exemptions totalling Rs11,047 billion were granted over the five fiscal years from 2020-21 to 2024-25. The figures were given during question hour in a session chaired by Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, according to Express News.

According to the ministry's breakdown, the exemptions included Rs580 billion in income tax, Rs1,274 billion in sales tax and Rs499 billion in customs duty.

Speaking to journalists outside Parliament, JUI-F MNA Alia Kamran said lawmakers had been given vague information on the exemptions. She said the government must disclose how much relief ordinary citizens had received from them.

Kamran said the national exchequer was funded by taxes collected from the public, but the Federal Board of Revenue had failed to collect taxes from those who should pay them. She said exemptions favouring privileged sections of society at the expense of ordinary citizens must end, and that further details should be made public to identify beneficiaries.

PPP MNA Sharmila Faruqui said lawmakers had raised the issue of concessions worth Rs2.3 trillion granted over the past four years. She said the Finance Division had been asked to identify the individuals, institutions and sectors that benefited. She added that the government had collected Rs605 billion from salaried individuals in a single year while giving substantial concessions to others.

Faruqui also criticised the government over rising prices of flour, LPG and fertilisers. She said LPG had reached a level where households found it hard to buy cylinders, and that DAP fertiliser had reached Rs18,000. She said the minister concerned had not given satisfactory answers and that repeated assurances did not amount to a clear policy. She said the flour price issue would be raised in the Assembly.

In the same session, according to Express News, the government denied a urea shortage but acknowledged that the DAP price had risen from Rs14,500 to Rs17,500. On LPG, it said a new policy to give relief to poor households would be completed within one to two days.

The Assembly passed several amendment bills and was adjourned until Tuesday at 11am after the quorum was found incomplete.