In a rare public dispute, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar and former leaders of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Miftah Ismail and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Monday got into a verbal fight over the 2024-25 budget with high taxes.
At a joint press conference, the duo launched a salvo against the government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, saying “such a budget will be of no use”.
Former Prime Minister Abbasi, who had resigned as PML-N vice president last year, lashed out at the government and said the country would not move forward without collecting taxes from powerful segments.
“No reform agenda is included in the (recent) budget,” he said. He called for an end to embezzlement. The former prime minister said all parties in the ruling coalition were responsible for presenting the tax-laden budget.
It is pertinent to mention here that Miftah, last month, announced the launch date of the new Abbasi-led party – Awaam Pakistan.
The former finance minister, speaking to Geo News over phone, had announced that his political party would be launched on July 6 and Abbasi would be its first convener. The inauguration ceremony of AP will be held in Islamabad, he had said.
Referring to Pakistan's “higher” electricity and gas tariffs compared to other countries in the region, Abbasi asked: “What foreign investment will come here?”
“Will taxes boost exports?” he asked Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb.
The former prime minister asked what the government would do in the next budget. “Will it affect 60% of the employees?” He urged the government to privatise power distribution companies and cut their expenditure to get the country out of the current economic crisis.
He also highlighted the need to tax legislators as well.
Miftah Ismail, who resigned from all PML-N posts last year, said the IMF did not ask the government to exploit the middle class.
Launching a fresh salvo against the government, the former finance minister asked whether the IMF had ordered to provide Rs 600 billion to MNAs.
“Did the IMF ask you to spend 24% [of the GDP] About false expenses?”
He also asked whether the IMF had ordered a 10% surcharge on income tax for high earners. In the new budget, the government has proposed a 10% surcharge on income tax for those people (salaried and non-salaried) earning more than Rs 10 crore a year.
He also criticized the government for exemption to industries in the merged areas of erstwhile Fata.
In response to his journalist, the Minister of Information responded in kind and blamed the former Minister of Finance for the “high inflation” during his previous term as finance tsar.
In response to their accusations and criticism, the federal minister said the government had cut its spending as much as possible.
“Two of our former colleagues presented false statistics,” he said, adding that Rs 500 billion was not given to MPs for their development.
The minister revealed that Prime Minister Shehbaz and his cabinet members do not receive salaries or enjoy any privileges.
Highlighting the government's economic measures, he said inflation had been reduced from 38% to 11% in one year.
