ISLAMABAD: Members of the National Assembly from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) have questioned tax exemptions amounting to Rs11 trillion over the past five years, demanding details of their beneficiaries and asking whether the concessions provided any relief to the common people.
Speaking to journalists outside Parliament, JUI-F MNA Alia Kamran said lawmakers had been provided with vague information regarding tax exemptions and that the government must disclose how much relief ordinary citizens had received from these concessions.
She said the national exchequer was funded through taxes collected from the public, but the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had failed to collect taxes from those who should be paying them.
Kamran criticized the FBR’s performance and said tax exemptions benefiting privileged sections of society at the expense of ordinary citizens must end.
She said further details of the tax concessions should be made public to determine their beneficiaries and the extent of relief provided to the general population.
Meanwhile, PPP MNA Sharmila Faruqui questioned the government’s tax policies and said lawmakers had raised the issue of tax concessions worth Rs2.3 trillion granted over the past four years during proceedings in the National Assembly.
She said the Finance Division had been asked to identify the individuals, institutions and sectors that benefited from the tax exemptions.
Faruqui said the government had collected Rs605 billion in taxes from salaried individuals in a single year while providing substantial tax concessions to other sections.
She questioned whether the benefits of these exemptions had reached ordinary citizens and said the government had failed to provide satisfactory answers regarding their beneficiaries.
The PPP lawmaker also criticised the government over rising prices of flour, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and fertilisers, saying inflation had made essential commodities increasingly unaffordable for ordinary households.
Faruqui said the issue of rising flour prices would be raised in the National Assembly.
She said LPG prices had increased to a level where ordinary citizens were finding it difficult to purchase gas cylinders for household use.
The PPP MNA said the concerns were not related to industrial gas consumption but to the difficulties faced by households in meeting their daily energy requirements.
She said the price of diammonium phosphate (DAP) fertiliser had reached Rs18,000, raising further concerns about the increasing cost of essential agricultural inputs.
Faruqui said the minister concerned had failed to provide satisfactory answers to questions regarding rising prices.
She criticised the government’s responses to these concerns, saying repeated assurances that efforts were being made did not amount to a clear policy.
The PPP lawmaker said the government lacked a clear policy and direction to address the increasing financial burden on ordinary citizens.
Both lawmakers called for greater transparency regarding tax concessions and questioned whether government policies were providing meaningful relief to the public amid rising prices.
