The government is set to introduce new taxes in the upcoming budget, in addition to Rs80 billion it hopes to collect this fiscal year by withdrawing tax exemptions.
“We have to levy taxes for higher revenue collection in 2014-15,” Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Afzal Bajwa told reporters after briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Finance on the performance of the tax apparatus.
The statement is in contrast to Finance Minister Ishaq Dar’s pledge last week that the budget 2014-15 will not bring new taxes.
In its first budget, the PML-N government had already introduced more than Rs200bn taxes.