‘Opposition criticism of Punjab budget baseless’

LAHORE: Information Minister Fayyaz ul Hassan Chohan has said Pakistan Muslim League (N) eclipsed and marred the country’s progress on economic front.

He said opposition parties, especially PML(N), need revisit the details of taxes levied during their previous stint in power, before doing baseless criticism on Punjab budget for 2020-21. Pakistan Muslim League (N) imposed 16 per cent provincial sales tax on hotels in 2014-15, which has been brought down to 5 percent by Buzdar government, Chohan said. PML (N) offered 10 per cent rebate on full deposit of vehicles registration and token tax which has been doubled to 20. Entertainment tax has been brought down from 20 percent to 5 percent, he said.

Fayyaz ul Hassan Chohan said in 2015-16, PML(N) government imposed taxes on more than two dozen services, while in 2017-18, N League had increased provincial sales tax rate on services sector by a whopping 84 percent. Chohan said that sales tax being an indirect tax, directly affects the middle to lower middle class.

Therefore, it will not be wrong to say that PML (N) taxed lower class more than the privileged one, Chohan added. He said unlike PML (N) tenure, the PTI government has not only rebated taxes on more than 20 services, but has also not levied any new tax in the current budget.