The National Assembly session is currently under way where lawmakers are gathered to vote on the government’s budget for the new fiscal year.
Prime Minister Imran Khan is present for today’s session, while former president Asif Ali Zardari and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari are also in attendance.
The Finance Bill 2021-22 is being discussed clause by clause in the House. So far, amendments proposed by treasury members have been accepted while those proposed by opposition members have been rejected.
The government had already defeated the opposition earlier on a motion moved by Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin for taking up the bill under consideration.
Earlier, Tarin had lashed out at the opposition for its criticism of the government. He said that only food inflation had increased during the PTI government’s tenure and had attributed this to the policies of past governments.
He said that the government was focusing on the agriculture sector which had been ignored in the past. “We are taking direct action, something that has never been done before,” he thundered, adding that the government was forced to go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) due to the fiscal deficit it inherited when it came into power.
He said that the government will go after willful tax defaulters, adding that it was necessary to enhance the tax to GDP ratio to 20 per cent.
The minister also dispelled the opposition’s claims that indirect taxes had been imposed, adding that majority of Pakistan’s trade sector was not under the tax net. “Consumers are paying it but we are not receiving it,” he said, adding that the government will also focus on this.