Govt gets walkover: Budget passed amid absence of 20 PML-N MNAs

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Thursday evening passed the Federal Budget with a majority vote amid a pathetic show by the opposition.

Opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif among 20 PML-N members remained absent from the house. Some MMA leaders and Akhtar Mengal were no exception.

Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin moved the Finance Bill, 2021, while the amendments proposed by the opposition were rejected by the house. The Federal Budget having a total outlay of Rs8.487 trillion will envisage 10 per cent increase in salaries of government employees and pensioners while the minimum wage has been fixed at Rs20,000 per month.

The chair ordered counting after the opposition had challenged the majority voice when the finance minister moved the finance bill for consideration of the house. On counting, the motion was passed with 172 to 138 votes.

The government managed to complete the symbolic number of 172 after Prime Minister Imran Khan arrived in the hall. During counting, Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri after handing over the chair occupied his seat in the House.

The government and its allied parties are represented by 178 members while the total strength of opposition parties in the house is 161.Opposition leader Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and 19 other PMLN members were absent at the time of the passage of the federal budget. On the other hand, 54 out of 56 PPP parliamentarians were present. Some MMA members and Sardar Akhtar Mengal were also not present.

“This gives a wrong impression that a number of opposition members were not present in the house at the time of the passage of the finance bill,“ PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari later told newsmen. He said he had already told the opposition leader that his party’s members would be present in the house and I honoured my word.” Asif Ali Zardari was also very much there. Bilawal said termed the budget “unconstitutional and illegal”, saying he even began his earlier budget speech in the National Assembly with the same point. “When you do not give NFC award to provinces, you are depriving them of their share,” he said. He also asked Shehbaz to bring a no-confidence against the speaker and maintained that the entire opposition should unite in this cause. “I think this parliament has lost the moral ground, and we need to register our protest.” Bilawal also lashed out at the government, saying it didn’t allow him to speak in the parliament on the concluding day of the budget session.

PMLN leader Ahsan Iqbal in a statement said the opposition leader could not attend Tuesday’s proceedings because of the death of his brother-in-law.Two opposition members Syed Khurshid Shah and Ali Wazir attended the proceedings on production orders issued by Speaker Asad Qaisar on Tuesday.

Opposition members including Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Maryam Aurengzeb, Shazia Marri, Abdul Qadar Baloch, Shahida Akhtar Ali and others through their amendments proposed the omission of a clause which gives the FBR powers to arrest tax defaulters, withdrawal of increase in petroleum levy, tax on mobile phone call exceeding duration of five minutes, withdrawal of Rs383 billion, increase in salaries of government employees and reduction in sales tax on certain commodities.

Of the total outlay of Rs8.48 trillion, the government has allocated Rs3.060 trillion for debt servicing which makes 41 per cent of the budget. An allocation of Rs1.37 trillion has also been earmarked for defence services which is 16.1 per cent of total outlay of the budget.

In the federal budget for the year starting on July 1, the annual Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP has been increased by 40 per cent from Rs630 billion to Rs900 billion while Rs100 billion have been earmarked for construction hydro power projects.

The growth rate of 4.6 per cent has been projected for the next fiscal year with tax collection target of Rs5,829 billion. The budget provides zero rating to export of IT services while tax relief has been given for locally manufactured cars upto 1000 CC with tax exemptions and concessions given to encouraging manufacturing of electric vehicles in the country.

Allocations for Ehsaas Programme have been enhanced from Rs210 billion to Rs260 billion while Rs10 billion for Kamyab Jawan Programme for the financial year 2021-22. The government has also allocated 1.1 billion dollars for procurement of anti-COVID-19 vaccine.

Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin said for the first time in 74 years, the government has given a roadmap for progress to the poor in the federal budget.

“Poverty will reduce in the country in years to come while there will be prosperity here,” he said. In this connection, he said that over four million people would own their houses under the Naya Pakistan Programme. Health cards will also be issued to all.

The finance minister said the core inflation stands at seven percent while food inflation increased as the past government did not invest in the agriculture sector, adding now the government will be spending on this sector in the form of allocations and exemptions.

The minister said the government would not spare tax defaulters, adding no powers to arrest would be given to FBR rather he said he himself would head a committee which is going take decisions to make arrests.

The minister said the FBR has the tax profiles of 15 million people, adding those those having annual income over Rs250 million and not paying taxes would be arrested. The GDP growth will not increase if we do not nab tax defaulters, he said.

Tarin also agreed to accommodate an amendment from PTI member Rana Qasim Noon in which he had proposed that an MNA should be given cash vouchers instead of PIA tickets annually.

Syed Naveed Qamar of PPP while criticizing the government’s decision to give powers of arrest to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) said after the NAB, the FBR was also being politicised.

“Are you giving discretion of arrest to those FBR officials who have no bright record in their service?” the PPP parliamentarian asked, saying the opposition supports collection of taxes but through direct taxation. He said the government says that it would appoint special judges to try cases of those arrested, adding the judges would also be appointed by the federal government. “This step will result in reduction in tax collection, as the money will once again go underground,” he said. He said the government is also set to impose a heavy petroleum levy increasing petroleum prices by at least Rs25 per liter which would result in costly transportation.

“This step is increase inflation as prices of goods and commodities will also increase considerably,” he observed. He said the government has also decided to increase CNG prices. He said there would be a tsunami of price hike. He told the government that there was no infrastructure for electric vehicles, particularly when there is problem of worst load-shedding in country’s biggest city Karachi.

Naveed Qamar also demanded withdrawal of tax on mobile calls exceeding five minutes, saying that cellular phones now have become a necessity. He said there should also be no taxation on silver and online markets. “We should impose direct taxes on the rich and save the poor from indirect taxation,” he said.

Khurram Dastgir Khan of the PMLN said that according to estimates the budgetary deficit would increase to Rs3,860 billion over eight per cent, adding that 70 per cent of total taxes would be made from indirect taxation.

He questioned if the government is going to collect Rs383 indirect taxes from industries of Karachi facing a shutdown for three weeks while KP industries are on the verge of closure due to gas shortage.

He also challenged the government’s claims about agricultural growth, saying it was being claimed that there had been a record yield of wheat and sugarcane crops but still the finance minister announced importing sugar and wheat.

He also took exception to increase in petroleum levy which would also result in increase in electricity tariffs, particularly for the agriculture sector. The PML-N member said the government was running the economy on the real estate amnesty scheme.

Maryam Aurengzeb of the PMLN also opposed indirect taxation which would make 67 per cent of the total revenue targets for the next fiscal year. She also condemned the imposition of Rs0.75 tax on mobile phone call after every five minutes, saying that the decision would burden the poor as they neither have smart phones nor they use whatsapp like the rich. Qaisar Shaikh of the PMLN asked the government to focus on controlling corruption and promotion of education in the country.