TRADITIONALLY, provinces have been following the footsteps of the Federal Government in announcing annual budgets and the nature of the relief measures for different segments of the society, especially the Government employees but this time round, KP Government has taken a lead in unveiling budget for the next financial year with a total outlay of Rs. 1,754 billion. The surplus budget rightly focuses on social protection, peace, employment opportunities and economic development as these are issues of real concern for people.
In a welcome development, the provincial government has decided to improve the tax net instead of increasing the taxes as inflation hit people can hardly afford more taxation. However, there is a need to mobilize provincial resources because at the moment the province is depending heavily on the Federal Government for financial resources in the shape of federally divisible pool, one percent extra cess in the name of war on terror, royalties, surcharge on oil and gas and net hydel profit. Several measures have been announced to improve tax collection including reforms in sales, property and tobacco taxes as well as other taxes. The province also deserves credit for its decision to increase pay and pension of its employees and pensioners by 10% and raising minimum wage from the existing Rs. 32,000 to Rs. 36,000 which would, hopefully, help mitigate sufferings of the fixed income groups. The proposed reduction of tax both on residential and commercial properties would also serve as a major relief to the people and needs to be emulated by other provinces, which are, instead, planning to impose taxes on plots as well. The PTI considers youth as its mainstay and rightly so and with this in view the KP Government has allocated Rs. 12 billion for Ehsaas Naujawan, Ehsaas Rozgar and Ehsaas Hunar programmes, which would help create employment opportunities for over one hundred thousand youths. A modest allocation of Rs. 3 billion has been made for construction of five thousand houses under Ehsaas Own House programme, which needs to be expanded. The budget also envisages welcome initiatives in the energy sector like establishment of a provincial distribution company and launching of a hydro-power project to produce 235 MW of cheap electricity. In fact, Finance Minister Aftab Alam had a point when he declared that the new budget was not just a document, rather it was a roadmap for the development and prosperity of the province and a reflection of the government’s strong resolve to resolve problems of the people.
