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| The current government has repeatedly blamed the previous government |
Due to the deteriorating economic situation in Pakistan, political and economic uncertainty in the country is on the rise. Instead of accepting responsibility for the country's economic situation, the current government has repeatedly blamed the previous government. Claims of past qualifications are becoming dubious. One of the main reasons for the economic challenges facing the country at the moment is that the new government has slowed down in decision-making immediately after taking office, which has exacerbated economic problems. They are getting wetter and now the situation is such that there is no possibility of getting a loan from the IMF without fulfilling all the conditions.
In this regard, PPP chairman and current foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who has criticized the PTI government's budget in the past as PTI, MF budget, is also silent. In addition, the budget of Rs 95.2 trillion presented by the federal government for the next financial year 23-2022 does not provide any special relief to the middle class. There is some relief, but the most neglected and most burdened section is the middle class. The main reason for this is that the increase in taxes by the government and the collection of additional tariffs on oil and gas levies will increase inflation and the middle class will have to bear the brunt of it. Will In addition, the budget includes some taxes and levies that were not mentioned in the budget speech but are included in the finance bill. Although the federal budget has announced a 10 per cent increase in the salaries of government employees and a five per cent increase in the pensions of retired government employees, the salaried class will also get a tax deduction of Rs 600,000 per annum along with an income of Rs 600,000 to Rs 12 lakh. However, there is no relief in this budget for the middle class. The biggest increase in the budget presented by the federal government was the petroleum levy on oil products.
In this regard, a target of Rs. 750 billion has been set for the next financial year. This means that consumers will be charged an additional Rs 30 per liter of petrol and diesel at the beginning of the next financial year. It may be recalled that the previous government had received a total of Rs 135 billion in this regard and then reduced the collection to zero in order to reduce the effects of inflation. Similarly, the present government has increased the target for collection of gas development surcharge from Rs. 25 billion to Rs. 200 billion in the next financial year, which will be collected by increasing the price of gas. The current target of levy has been increased from Rs 5 billion to Rs 8 billion and the burden will be borne by the consumers. In addition, the revenue collection target for the next financial year has been set at Rs 7,000 billion. Four and a half thousand billion rupees will be collected in the form of these direct taxes which include sales tax, excise duty and customs duty. This will make consumer goods and raw materials or other products imported from abroad more expensive. These measures proposed in the federal budget will not only increase the prices of electricity, gas and petrol, but will also lead to higher inflation due to increase in sales tax and levy. Given the current situation in the country, the government should have made reforms to increase revenue through direct taxes instead of increasing these direct taxes to save the middle class from the effects of inflation. Decided to continue. The federal budget has set an inflation target of 11% for the next financial year, which is not based on reality as the inflation rate in the country has now reached 24%. It is important to note here that 70% of the working class in the country work in the informal economy and their wages are unlikely to increase. In such a scenario, due to additional taxes and rising inflation, the purchasing power of this class will be reduced to a minimum and ultimately the entire economy will have to suffer in the event of a decline in economic activity. In addition, due to declining purchasing power, the middle class will spend less on food, health and education, which will further increase the burden on the state in these sectors and further lower Pakistan in the Human Development Index. It should be noted that the role of the middle class in the economic development of any country cannot be ignored but by ignoring the same class in the budget of the next financial year, the present government has laid the foundation for further weakening of the economy. Is. The government still has a chance to review the budget in this regard so as to prevent the growth rate from going down again by maintaining the purchasing power of the middle class.