The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa finance minister, Muzammil Aslam, has criticised the federal budget for fiscal year 2025-26 presented on Tuesday, calling salary class relief a mockery.
In response to the federal budget, Muzammil Aslam, the Finance Advisor to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, expressed concern that the salary class has been mocked under the guise of relief. He highlighted that individuals earning between 1.2 million and 1.8 million per year receive only 2,000 and about 4,000 in monthly relief, respectively. For those earning 3 million, the monthly relief amounts to just 18,000. Aslam pointed out that the middle class is suffering greatly from inflation and taxes, questioning how poverty has increased even if inflation has supposedly decreased.
He stated that, according to the World Bank, 45 per cent of Pakistanis have fallen below the poverty line. Aslam also noted that the introduction of a carbon tax on petroleum products will further drive inflation. He mentioned that a surcharge would be applied to electricity rates as part of efforts to eliminate the circular debt associated with electricity.
Aslam criticised the increase in the tax on solar imports to 18 per cent, calling it an injustice to poor people. Additionally, he pointed out that the tax on bank and mutual fund profits has risen by 15 to 20 per cent. He challenged the government’s claim of an improving economy, highlighting that the development funds in the budget total only 1,000 billion rupees, compared to 1,400 billion allocated the previous year when the economy was in poor condition.
He emphasised that the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) does not include any development plans for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and that only 540 million rupees have been allocated to the province from the overall development funds. Aslam lamented that the budget made no provisions for the struggling agriculture and industry sectors, and it also imposed an 18 per cent tax on online shopping.
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