For a government consisting of partners in double-digit and forced to deal with a no nonsense IMF, the passing of the budget in second attempt is commendable. Again, thanks to the IMF, the regressive attempt to provide relief to every individual paying income tax has been reversed and a progressively rising burden introduced. On the corporates, a super tax of 10% has been imposed raising the effective rate to around 40%. However, with the super tax declared as a temporary measure and insubstantial progress on shifting the withholding income taxes to normal income tax regime, fingers will remain crossed. Not only that it is exempt from income tax, it is also an easy route to tax avoidance by showing non-agricultural income as agricultural income.

Source: The Express Tribune July 01, 2022 14:59 UTC