WASHINGTON (Dunya News) – Federal Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Thursday that the government was aware of the miseries faced by an already weighed down salaried class, expressing his desire not to burden the class further through taxes.
In an interview with a French news agency, he claimed that the industrial sector had met its maximum limit of paying taxes.
Underscoring the need for improving tax revenue targets, Aurangzeb said real estate sector and retailers would have to add more into tax revenue to enhance collection.
“More than 52,000 income tax returns were filed with an increase of 29% in the tax base,” he added.
He stressed the need for stopping plunder in the government corporations while hoping to control electricity theft and tax evasion.
Speaking about Pakistan’s debt crises, the FM said that country had an overall debt volume of $258 billion which was 69% of the total economy.
“Pakistan government wanted to privatise the Pakistan International Airline (PIA) which was delayed as we had to determine the value of the assets of the national flag carrier. The PIA will be privatised in November”, he added.