In a move which makes Pakistan the highest taxed country in the Asia, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday announced a 10 per cent super tax on large-scale industries like cement, steel and automobile, a move he said was aimed at tackling spiraling inflation and saving the cash-strapped country from going “bankrupt.”
High net worth individuals will also be subject to a “poverty alleviation tax,” Sharif announced after chairing a meeting of his economic team on the federal budget for the next fiscal year 2022-23. The sectors on which this super tax will be levied include cement, steel, sugar, oil and gas, fertilisers, LNG terminals, textile, banking, automobile, cigarettes, beverages and chemicals, according to the Dawn newspaper.
Sharif explained that other motives included stabilisation of the economy. But will he elaborate how will the industries be able to compete in the global market.
The premier, however, said that the economic situation would not improve overnight once a deal with the IMF was signed.
