Finance Bill sails through parliament to greenlight Rs17.57tr budget
The Finance Bill, 2025, was approved by parliament on Thursday, meaning that the Rs17.57 trillion budget for the coming fiscal year has been greenlit.
The PPP on Wednesday voiced strong reservations over a set of politically unpopular provisions in the federal budget for the next fiscal year, urging the government to amend “contentious” clauses ahead of its expected approval in the National Assembly today (Thursday).
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb’s amendments to various legislation, including the Income Tax Ordnance, 2001, were all approved, while opposition amendments were rejected, according to a Dawn.com correspondent.
The bill was read out in the assembly and approved clause by clause.
The session has been adjourned until 11am tomorrow.
Amendments to the Sales Tax Act, 1990, presented by Aurangzeb were approved by a majority vote in the House.
The amendment granted the committee powers to arrest traders involved in tax fraud exceeding Rs50 million.
The federal government had earlier proposed an amendment to give the powers of arrest to the tax commissioner.
“The FBR will not have the power of arrest during the investigation stage,” the amendment added.
All amendments introduced by the opposition in the Sales Tax Act were rejected by majority vote.
During the parliament session, an amendment to the Salaries and Allowances Act was presented with the support of the finance minister, according to which ministers and ministers of state will receive the same salary as members of parliament.
The amendment was approved by a majority vote.
Earlier this month, Aurangzeb unveiled Pakistan’s annual federal budget in a charged National Assembly session, outlining ambitious proposals to drive 4.2 per cent economic growth in the coming fiscal year while cutting back on overall spending and tightening tax measures.
The federal budget for fiscal year 2026 has a total outlay — the sum of expenditures and net lending of funds — of Rs17.573 trillion, representing a 6.9 per cent decrease from the previous year’s budget.
The government has proposed Rs16,286bn for current expenditure in the FY26 budget, a 5.33pc decrease from the previous year.
More to follow