ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided not to put extra burden on masses through increasing sales tax in upcoming budget, a member of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Shahid Hussain Asad told this in an interview with Radio Pakistan on Wednesday.
The FBR member said that rate of sales tax will remain 17 percent in the budget while the FBR will reinforce its collections mechanisms, instead of increase in sales tax.
In reply to a question regarding shortfall in revenue collections for current fiscal year, he said that the FBR has taken special initiatives to meet the target of Rs2,345 billion.
It is worthy to note that the FBR, in last two months of current financial year, has to collect slightly over Rs600 billion.
Shahid Hussain rejected reports of imposing any emergency in the board to achieve this target, and said that there is no need for such. He expressed confidence that the FBR will cover the shortfall.
To another question, he said that the FBR cannot end Rs500 billion tax exemptions due to several international agreements such as preferential trade agreements (PTAs) with different countries.
