- NA Opp leader suggests increase in direct taxes, less dependence on foreign loans
- Senators call for announcement of NFC award, broadening tax net, revival of sick entities and allocation of funds for hydropower projects
Opposition lawmakers in the National Assembly and Senate on Monday called for setting up of National Finance Commission Award (NFC) to ensure equitable distribution of resources among federating units besides broadening the tax net, allocation of more funds for National Counter Terrorism Authority (NCTA) and revival of loss-making public sector enterprises, as the two houses began the debate on the proposals of the Federal Budget 2016-17.
They also said that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) should not be made controversial if the country is to achieve full benefit of the game-changing project.
Criticising the 2016-17 budget, Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah on Monday suggested that direct taxes should be increased and the country’s dependence on foreign loans should be decreased.
Opening debate in the National Assembly on the budget, Shah termed it as a directionless, visionless budget, having nothing for the unemployed youth, farmers and the downtrodden segments of the society. He said that the budget did not offer any solution to the rampant price hikes. It could not be termed as people-friendly budget, he added.
He said that the agriculture sector has been neglected badly in the budget. He also held a large number of people out of tax net responsible for higher indirect taxes.
“The railway project introduced in the 2013-14 budget speech has been renamed as the Orange Train Project,” he said. “We were told in the last three budget speeches that Pakistan will get rid of the menace of load shedding within six months,” he said.
But still Pakistan is facing power deficit of 5,000 MW and thus load shedding cannot be ended by 2018 as most of the government’s power project cannot start generating power within the next two years due to a variety of reasons, he added. According to experts, Pakistan could face water scarcity in the coming years, he said.
‘WE WEREN’T GOOD BUT YOU’RE NO PRIZE EITHER’:
“We are all collectively responsible for not initiating hydropower generation projects,” he said.
He said that Pakistan still has the capacity to store 30 million cubic feet of water but it is only possible if appropriate measures are taken at the earliest. He said the former prime minister was persuaded by the bureaucracy to announce an end to load shedding by December 2010.
“But most of the country’s villages were still enduring 14 hours of load shedding,” he remarked.
The opposition leader said that the price of fertilisers is very high in Pakistan compared to the neighbouring countries. India is providing free electricity and water to its farmers to achieve good production, he added. He also said that inadequate measures and lack of proper incentives resulted in the shortfall of 40 per cent in the cotton produce during the current fiscal year due to which Pakistan had to import the commodity.
He said that the actual budget deficit was 6 per cent but the government had shown it to be only 4.3 per cent. He said that the government should inform the people about the ground realities, adding the nation is ready to face any challenge for the betterment of the country. According to the State Bank of Pakistan, he said, the target of foreign direct investment and GDP growth couldn’t be achieved, and the country’s exports have also decreased.
He said that Pakistan has witnessed significant increase in domestic borrowing during the last three years. Khursheed Shah said that the government should have given equal share to all the provinces in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) projects to provide equal opportunities for growth and development and to neutralise feelings of deprivation especially in smaller provinces.
He said that clear directions and goals should be set to overcome the challenges being faced by Pakistan including unemployment, decaying industry and inflation. He said that non-developmental expenditures should be decreased to strengthen the economy. He was also critical of the tax exemption on import of print materials and argued that it would hurt the local printing industry.
He said that the government should focus on direct taxes rather than the indirect taxes to expand its tax base. He pointed out that only 0.7 per cent of the total population is paying taxes. He also called for providing low cost electricity to local industry to improve its production and provide employment opportunities to the people.
In the Senate, IIlyas Bilour of the Awami National Party (ANP) said the government had allocated funds for hydro-power projects in PSDP 2015-16, but funds for projects like Basha dam, Neelum-Jhelum etc were not released. He urged the Finance Minister to ensure that funds as announced in the PSDP would be released this year.
He also pointed out that funds had not been allocated for Munda dam this year which was important for the people as well as for meeting the shortage of electricity in the country.
Mushahid Hussain Syed of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) said the National Agriculture Research Center which promoted techniques for development of agriculture should be further strengthened. He was of the view that agriculture growth could have been far better had it been given due attention.
He said the cigarette manufacturers’ lobby succeeded in getting tobacco exempted from tax but milk was taxed which highlighted a big anomaly in the tax regime.
He said that trans-national projects including CPEC, TAPI and IP projects play an important role in enhancing regional connectivity which is important if the country is to face challenges of the 21st century.
Taking part in the debate, Chaudhry Tanveer of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) said Pakistan was going bankrupt when the PML-N government came to power, but prudent economic policies of the government had effected a remarkable turnaround.
Numan Wazir Khattak of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said that there is a need to make the country economically self-reliant.
Aurangzeb from FATA said hurdles are being put in the way of implementation of the 18th amendment by certain groups who do not want transfer of financial powers to federating units.
He said a new NFC award should be announced to provide due rights to the provinces and FATA. He said that FATA is facing hardships today even though they have offered great sacrifices for the country.
He said a relief package on the pattern of Aghaz-e-haqooq Balochistan should be announced for FATA to remove the people’s sense of deprivation among them.