"Pakistan Kay Pas Ab Waqt Nahi Raha Kay...", Miftah Ismail's Big Statement Regarding Budget 2024

ARY NEWS

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Transcript

00:00Mr. Mehta, let's talk about the IMF first and then talk about the budget.

00:07How do you see this budget? Is it a traditional budget?

00:11I shouldn't say this, but let me ask you anyway.

00:14Do you think this is a public-friendly budget?

00:16Do you think the government will be able to fulfil the goals set in this budget?

00:21Before the budget, the Minister of Finance said that the budget is being presented during economic difficulties.

00:37So, some people will have to make sacrifices.

00:41We will have to make sacrifices.

00:43So, there are new taxes in this, which I think are a little more, but it is not that surprising.

00:49But where you are asking people to pay taxes, where you are doubling their taxes from those who earn Rs 75,000 a month or Rs 100,000 a month.

00:59So, where you are asking people to make sacrifices, we don't see what the government has sacrificed.

01:09The government's expenses are increasing unexpectedly.

01:12The government has increased continuous expenses by 24%.

01:15Even if you take out the debt servicing, the expenditure of the PhDP is Rs 1,400 billion.

01:21All of them have been deducted and Rs 300 billion has been deducted indirectly.

01:25Rs 75,000 has been invested in MNS funds.

01:28So, on the one hand, you are imposing taxes on milk for children.

01:32On the other hand, you are imposing taxes on the heart stents in the heart.

01:36You are imposing taxes on stationery.

01:38You are imposing taxes on the kitchen items of Rosanna.

01:44And on the other hand, you are imposing expenses of Rs 300-400 billion on MPH in the provinces.

01:51You are imposing expenses on MNS.

01:53Every expense is increasing.

01:55I have said that the continuous expenses have increased by 24%.

01:59So, what message are you giving?

02:01You are giving a message that if you have a salary of Rs 100,000, then we will double your tax.

02:06But if you have a land of 1,000 acres, then you have to pay taxes.

02:11If you are taking a tax of Rs 75,000 or buying milk for a child, then we will impose taxes on that.

02:17But we will not impose a fixed tax on big shopkeepers because we need their political support.

02:23We will not impose a property tax on people who live in big mansions.

02:27But we will impose a tax on the heart stents in the heart.

02:33So, I feel that this government is being dishonest.

02:38And the result will be that...

02:41Mr. Abdul Qadir Patel, you were suggested today that you should impose wealth tax instead of income tax.

02:47The one who is living in a house of crores is saying that he cannot impose taxes on the unemployed.

02:51He is not imposing taxes on the one who is living in a house of crores.

02:53The one who is living on rent but has a salary, he is imposing taxes on him.

03:00Look, you will have to rectify the tax system.

03:05There are two principles of tax in the world.

03:08One is called horizontal equity, that people with equal income should pay equal taxes.

03:13In our country, this is not the case.

03:14In our country, job seekers pay taxes.

03:16Retailers do not pay taxes.

03:19Real estate owners do not pay taxes.

03:22People who live in big mansions pay less taxes.

03:28The second principle is vertical equity, that the one who earns more will pay more taxes

03:32and the one who earns less will pay less taxes.

03:34We violate this principle as well.

03:36We do not impose taxes on the unemployed.

03:39We impose indirect taxes on the poor.

03:41So, we violate these two principles that are found in the world.

03:46And the country does not move forward in such a way that if you keep imposing taxes on the poor

03:51and you do not bring any reduction in the expenses.

03:53If you have so much trouble that it is necessary to impose taxes on the poor, then impose it.

03:59But then you show a reduction in the expenses.

04:01Then you say that the government will reduce its own expenses as well.

04:04Let me tell you, in 15 minutes, you can reduce 600-800 billion rupees from the government's expenses.

04:10No one will even know.

04:11So, I think there is a mistake in the government's priorities.

04:16Reduce these expenses.

04:18Then, Mr. Rishta, the IPPs that are closed, of which 3-4 billion rupees are still going,

04:24if they are also closed, this was also a suggestion.

04:27Do you think such suggestions are applicable?

04:31BB, look, there are not 3-4 billion rupees in the IPPs.

04:36We give 22 billion rupees per year to the IPPs.

04:38We give them a fixed cost of about 200 billion rupees.

04:41But they have made sovereign agreements.

04:43Without that, no one in the world is ready to install electricity in Pakistan

04:46because you have a single buyer model.

04:48But on the other hand, the government is also giving 17 billion rupees to the power ministry.

04:52So, this is not just a matter of the fixed cost of the IPPs,

04:56it is not just a matter of capacity cost,

04:58it is also a matter of transmission and distribution losses.

05:01There are more losses than the average in the world.

05:05There is a lot of theft.

05:07There is no bill recovery.

05:09You use the wrong fuel.

05:11You have problems with transmission.

05:14We have not solved any of these problems.

05:16And as long as we do not reduce it,

05:19the companies that are selling goods or distributing electricity

05:25are not losing their money.

05:27The owners are not losing money.

05:29This system cannot be fixed.

05:33Mr. Miftad, if we summarize this budget,

05:38can we summarize it in such a way that

05:41the government has failed to bring non-pilots into the tax net?

05:45And that is why the burden of this failure is being placed on the employees.

05:53No, I think it is too early to say that the government has failed to bring non-pilots into the tax net.

05:59I think there are a lot of punitive taxes imposed on non-pilots.

06:04So, I think because of this, the number of non-pilots will increase this year.

06:08I am sure of this.

06:09So, some steps are right.

06:11But the reality is that because you have missed reforms this year,

06:14you have not made reforms, which were necessary.

06:17So, even this year, 1-1.5 crore people will go under the poverty line after this budget.

06:23So, poverty will increase from this budget.

06:25I have no doubt about this.

06:31So, Mr. Miftad, what reforms were in your opinion that were not implemented,

06:34that should have been done, but were not implemented by the government?

06:38Okay.

06:39See, number one is that I think the NFC award should have been looked at.

06:42And the 62% money that we give to the provinces,

06:46in which Gilgit-Baltistan is included, FATA is also included,

06:50Azad Kashmir is also included,

06:52and the 69% money that we give to all four provinces,

06:56there should be a reduction in it.

06:58We are giving so much money to the provinces,

07:00that they are distributing surplus money there.

07:02Someone is distributing solar panels, someone is lining the canal,

07:05someone is building a ghost school,

07:07someone is hiring a social media activist.

07:09So, first of all, you have given so much money to the provinces,

07:12and you have not put any responsibility on them to take tax.

07:14Then, the taxes that you have given to the provinces,

07:17of agriculture and property,

07:19the provinces protect them.

07:21So, neither does agriculture pay tax, nor does property pay tax.

07:24So, the NFC reform was very important.

07:26The NFC, at this time, because Wafaaq is on Diwali,

07:29so the NFC should have done a little clawback.

07:32Number one reform.

07:33Number two reform.

07:34You have talked about pension reforms.

07:36It has been a long time,

07:37but you have still limited it to Rs 1,000 and Rs 20 billion.

07:41So, you have not even reformed the pension.

07:44After that, you have increased the government's expenses by 24%.

07:49I think you could have reduced that as well.

07:51You have also said, although there is not a lot of savings in it,

07:54but you have also said that we will close some ministries.

07:56So, you have kept all the money, Rs 838 billion,

08:00to run the government.

08:01So, in this year, I don't think you have any intention of closing the ministries.

08:05So, there are a lot of reforms that you could have done,

08:08with which you could have gotten that money.

08:11I think that the State Bank should have reduced the interest rates as well.

08:15But the government, and the fundamental reform,

08:19that the NFC award has to be looked at,

08:21the government did not look at it.

08:22I think that because of this, Pakistan has wasted another year.

08:27It is a pity that we do not have much time to waste.

08:30Otherwise, Pakistan is the last in South Asia,

08:34apart from Afghanistan.

08:36So, will we be behind Afghanistan in the coming years as well?

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