Tax relief announced for health and education sectors

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Muhammad Aurangzaib on Friday announced that tax exemption has been maintained for medical equipment, including other items for health care and education.

The Finance Minister said that cardiac stents, school textbooks and printing materials, surgical cardiology and Ex. Tax exemptions for Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA) have been maintained.

Meanwhile, participating in the discussion on the 2024-2025 budget in the National Assembly, he said, “We all need clean milk for the good health of the people, but tax exemption cannot be given for packaged milk that does not meet health standards.”

Aurangzeb said that tax exemption for education and healthcare was granted in very difficult economic circumstances.
The Minister informed that teachers’ tests have also been granted tax exemption, which is also provided for in the draft Finance Bill for 2024-2025.

He said tax exemption has also been introduced in the agriculture and fertilizer sector to provide relief. He said there were high taxes on the salary class, which have now been normalized.

The minister said that “we need to increase the tax on gross domestic product (GDP) to 13%, which is currently 9.5%. He added that if the country wants to move towards self-sufficiency and move towards the latest International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, then tax collection needs to be increased.

The minister said that the government is determined to move towards revamping and digitizing the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) with a view to increasing the tax to GDP ratio to 13%. He said that in the tax system there will be no category of people who do not file returns and everyone will have to pay tax.

He said that if people want help, these economic measures will have to be taken and in this 2024-25 budget, the government has made a record allocation for the potential information technology and agriculture sectors.

Aurangzeb said tax evasion would be curbed and the tax net would be increased for the retailers and real estate sector in the country.