The Government of Pakistan has decided to re-impose the General Sales Tax (GST) on petroleum products, as per official sources in the Ministry of Finance.
At present, the rate of GST on petroleum products is zero.
The federal Cabinet has approved the federal budget and the finance bill for the upcoming fiscal year 2022–23. The federal development budget of Rs. 800 billion has also been approved, the sources confirmed.
It has been suggested to impose an additional tax of Rs. 10 billion on real estate, sources said. They revealed that it has been recommended to abolish the sales tax exemption on fertilizers. It has also been proposed to impose a three percent corporate tax on the high-profit sectors.
Suggestions for the imposition of excise duty on cement and discontinuing the income tax exemption of Rs. 80 billion have also been made. Likewise, increasing the customs duty on edible oil imports from two percent to six percent was also recommended.
The Cabinet has also approved a 15 percent increase in the salaries of government employees and a five percent increase in pensions. The sources also mentioned that four different suggestions had been made for an increase in the salaries of government employees, of which the Cabinet approved the 15 percent increase along with the five percent increase in pensions.
The ad-hoc allowances have also been approved to be included in the basic salary.
