Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh Wednesday said the government intends to reduce the overall sales tax rates to 15 percent, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported.
The government brought down the sales tax rate to 17 percent last year. It has now been cut to 16 percent.
Shaikh said keeping in view the inflationary trends, the government had hiked the income exemption from Rs.300,000 to Rs.350,000.
He added that 700,000 people would be included in the direct tax net to broaden the tax base.
APP said that the main focus of the federal budget 2011-12 was to control inflation.
No new taxes have been implemented in the budget while the government has implemented only two types of taxes including Income Tax and Sales Tax.
The budget 2011-12 envisages controlling the budget deficit of 4 percent of GDP besides controlling inflation.
IANS
