Pakistan's lower house passes bill for additional revenue, financial reforms

Islamabad, Jan 14: Pakistan’s National Assembly or lower house of parliament has passed the Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2021 to generate additional revenue and bring financial reforms.

Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin presented the bill before the National Assembly for voting during the session that concluded late Thursday night, reports Xinhua news agency.

Addressing the session, the Finance Minister said the government presented the bill to bring financial and tax reforms for the socio-economic development of common persons in the country.

Tarin added that the new reforms would bring more people into the tax net and help the country document the finance and businesses.

Speaker of the House Asad Qaiser read out all clauses of the bill and asked members to stand in favor of the bill and remain sitting if they are against it.

The Speaker gave the ruling that all the clauses of the bill presented by the finance minister had been passed in the house.

However, before the start of the voting, the Finance Minister took back clauses of the bill to impose taxes on bread, milk, bakery items, red chillies, iodized salt, solar panels and laptops following concerns from allied parties of the government.

In June last year, the government presented the annual budget for the period from July 2021 to June 2022, which was also passed by the lower house with a clear majority.