KARACHI:Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Tuesday said the government had discounted the hanging sword of IMF to present a budget that was good for the economy and majority of the population
The government should extend the construction package for one year to improve the economic situation while more taxes should be slapped on tobacco, luxuries, and sugary drinks to use this more for ensuring water security and combat climate change, it said PEW Chairman Brig (retd) Aslam Khan in a statement.
Six million shopkeepers are doing business worth trillions of rupees; therefore they should be brought into the tax net to increase direct taxation, reduce indirect taxation, and ease dependence on loans, said Khan.
He said that reversing taxes on mobile calls, SMSs and internet packages was a laudable move as people were now more dependent on these services. Khan said that taxes should be increased on luxuries and the income should be used to improve climate and ensure water security as climate change was inflicting a minimum loss of Rs1500 billion on the economy per annum but this sector was yet to get the attention of policymakers which could be judged by a little allocation in the budget.
He noted that IMF wanted a 46 percent hike in power tariff which would reverse the economic gains and contract economy pushing millions into the whirlpool of unemployment, therefore, the demand of the lender should be rejected. The unprecedented hike in food prices had not benefitted the farmers but the hoarders and profiteers using the budget which should be frustrated through strict administrative actions, he demanded.