Punjab Finance Minister Mian Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman has said that tax had been levied only on affluent segments while there was also a proposal to impose tax on the agriculture sector in the Budget 2013-14.
He was talking to a delegation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) headed by senior representative Mansoor Dailami. The delegation included Jeffrey Franks, Ferhan Salman, Asghar Shahmoradi, Sonali Das, Enrique Flores, Abdullah Al-Hassan and Daniela Gressani. Finance Secretary Tariq Bajwa, Finance Division Joint Secretary Naveed Alauddin and other senior officials were also present on the occasion.
The finance minister said that agriculture tax would be implemented in phases, adding that property tax, motor vehicle tax and tax on services were the major sources of provincial income which would increase due to reforms in the tax collection system.
The district governments would be given Rs 239 billion while solar energy operated tube wells worth Rs 7.5 billion would be provided to cultivators, he said adding that the utilisation of alternative energy sources including coal, windmill and biogas was also being considered for power generation besides hydel and thermal sources.
The finance minister told the delegation that expenditures of the Punjab chief minister’s office and provincial departments had been curtailed by 30 percent and 15 percent respectively.
Mian Mujtaba said education sector development was Punjab government’s top priority and a sum of Rs 244 billion (26 percent of the total Budget 2013-14) had been allocated for the purpose.
Another priority area is the health sector and Rs 102 billion (10.9 percent of the Budget) would be utilised on the provision of health facilities. He said that there was a scope of further expanding cooperation in health and education sectors in Punjab by international monetary institutions.
The IMF delegation assured the provincial minister that cooperation and investment in health, education and energy sectors would be considered as international monetary institutions were interested in the sectors. The delegation appreciated the efforts of the Punjab government for reforms in tax collection.
Not quite so! – I am the affluent class and I feel agri tax is a no silly spin-off from Chairman Mao's days. People who support it belong to the urban elite and they do not pay a "red cent" in property taxes (which the farmers pay). They also have no idea how hard the farmer (especially landless) farmers work. There should be an enforced minimum wage for agri and industrial workers. Domestics get all the pity when they are much better off. Child labour should be punished severely.
There should be minimum land holding to be exempt from agriculture tax
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