Why is no one expecting anything good from the Pakistan Budget 2025-2026?
Today, 10th June 2025, is the day for the budget 2025-2026 (FY 2026) to be presented by the government of Pakistan. Yesterday, the government published its survey for 10 months, which had more negative than positive. Even Pakistan's agricultural backbone did not survive, and that made many people wonder what the government of Pakistan might do next. To be fair, government hands are tight as the FBR is unable to generate revenue out of the box; the FBR needs to harass people to get additional tax. In the NA Finance Committee, it was revealed that the FBR is misusing its powers. However, it is not a new story that the FBR is misusing its powers to achieve IMF-given tax targets for FY 2025. The reason why this time no one is optimistic or positive about the budget is that everyone knows that they will be taxed heavily without any benefit. Famous economist Ammar Khan said that government policy is that you will be taxed like Europe, but you will be given facilities like Pakistan. Even cotton milk was not shown any mercy, as Bloomberg's Faseeh Mangi said and posted officially on X with the link to his article that Pakistani cotton milk is more expensive than Paris.
This statement made headlines not only in Pakistan but globally: Pakistan is one of the largest milk-producing countries, but Pakistan's taxes are higher than those of countries that import milk. Therefore, people are only waiting for the worst announcement, like the government of Pakistan hinting that freelancers who bring in export proceeds will be taxed as well in the upcoming budget, and pensions will be taxed as well. There is fear as well that the government will bring reforms that will prevent non-filers from traveling abroad except for religious travel, non-filers won't be able to buy cars that are beyond 800 cc, non-filers won't be able to purchase properties, and non-filers won't be able to invest in stocks or mutual funds. Moreover, they will be restricted in many banking transactions. Therefore, this time, people just do not want to be highlighted by the government so that they are not taxed heavily, let alone get tax relief.
