By Uzma Zafar
ISLAMABAD: Senior PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Sunday fired a broadside at the government for its “impracticable financial goals”, saying the decision-makers in Islamabad “manipulated” numbers in the budget for FY2021-22 to fool the masses.
Speaking at a press conference alongside other party leaders, former prime minister Abbasi said new taxes worth Rs383 billion had been imposed in the new budget. “Of them, indirect taxes amount to Rs265bn, which clearly indicates the poor will have to bear them,” he said.
He added that the claims of income generation made by the government were not backed by a concrete source to achieve that target. “In its last three years, the government couldn’t even increase its net income by 20 per cent and now they claim they will boost the same by 24pc in the new fiscal year,” said Abbasi.
He said the budget figures revealed that the government would obtain Rs252bn through privatisation. “But we cannot generate income by selling assets,” he added.
The former premier termed it an “ATM budget”, saying it benefitted those who plundered national wealth and created shortages of sugar. “This is also a budget for the friends,” he alleged. The PML-N leader questioned how the provinces would share revenue by curtailing their development, saying the provincial surplus was Rs240bn previously and now it was Rs570bn.
He noted that liquefied natural gas (LNG) was one key area for revenue generation and the government had imposed a 17pc sales tax on it.
