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It is an undisputed fact that Pakistan’s salaried class has been shouldering an immense tax burden for quite some time. Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb acknowledged the “disproportionately high burden” on this group and hinted at a potential review of the current tax slabs.
The salaried class emerged as the biggest contributor to income tax in the country, with their payments shooting up by over 300% compared to exporters during the first half of the current fiscal year, a recent report revealed.
Officially, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) collected Rs243 billion from salaried individuals during July-December FY25, which was up from Rs157 billion in the same period last year.
While acknowledging this, Finance Minister Aurangzeb admitted that “this is my personal view that indeed, on the salaried class side, there is a disproportionately high burden.” He did not commit to any definite reduction in the tax burden on the country’s working class.
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The finance minister did say, however, that the government intends to make the process of filing tax returns easier for salaried people. “We want to make life simpler for the salaried class in Pakistan,” he said.
Aurangzeb also mentioned that the government has already initiated its budget process in early January. “This will allow us the time to have a detailed discussion,” he added.
