Workers protest ‘unfair’ tax in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Employees of a private company staged a protest against the recently announced “tax-laden” 2024-25 budget, which has further burdened the wage class of inflation-hit Pakistani citizens, ARY News reported on Friday.

More than hundreds of employees of private companies took part in the protest held in Islamabad’s Blue Zone.

The chairman of the private company said that people are unable to bear the tax recently imposed by the government on the salaried class.

READ: Pakistan targets 13% tax-to-GDP ratio by 2027: finance minister

He stressed that the government should have reviewed the tax policy because citizens affected by inflation were already considering leaving the country.

The protesters called on the government to withdraw the taxes imposed in the recently announced 2024-25 budget.

Last month, the finance minister and other government officials failed to answer tough questions posed by journalists during the post-budget press briefing here in Islamabad.

At the post-budget briefing, a Pakistani journalist lambasted the Pakistani government’s fiscal policies and their impact on the common citizen.

READ: Budget 2024: Flour price set to increase in Pakistan

The journalist highlighted the plight of an employee earning barely Rs 45,000 a month, whose mobile SIM card was blocked by the PTA for non-declaration, but, he stressed, no action has been taken against the unexplained wealth of many senior officials exposed in the Dubai Leaks.

“Why is there no accountability for generals, parliamentarians and high-profile figures like Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, who own large and unexplained properties in Dubai,” the journalist asked the FBR chairman.

He criticised the apparent double standard where the assets of the wealthy go unscrutinised while ordinary citizens face “penalties” for minor violations.