Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Monday criticised provinces for “poor” tax collection from the agriculture sector which forms 21 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
On the first day of weeklong deliberations on federal budget by the Senate’s standing committee on finance led by Senator Nasrin Jalil, the minister also lamented that the provinces were not ready to empower the federal government to tax agriculture income despite their low collection from the sector.
The finance minister had figures on his fingertips to prove his point. Punjab has collected only Rs700 million and Sindh Rs300m. “It’s a matter of concern,” he said.
