ISLAMABAD: The Salaried Class Alliance of Pakistan has petitioned the Supreme Court against what it calls “unfair” taxes imposed on workers under the budget 2024-2025 that came into effect today, Monday, according to a copy of the document seen by Arab News.

The government presented the national budget on June 12 with a challenging tax revenue target of 13 trillion rupees ($46.66 billion) for the year starting July 1, up about 40 percent from the current year, to strengthen the case for a new rescue deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Parliament on Friday passed the finance bill, which has increased the tax liability by Rs22,500 for all persons earning more than Rs50,000 a month. Last year also the government had imposed a higher income tax on salaried persons it deemed “high earners.”

“The salaried class, already strained by high inflation and inadequate services, faces escalated tax rates without corresponding benefits or relief measures,” the union’s petition to the top court read. “The government’s approach neglects opportunities to broaden the tax base by targeting non-filers and the informal sector, crucial for equitable taxation.”

The petition said increased taxation would contribute to the brain drain of skilled professionals and capital flight, which were detrimental to Pakistan’s economic growth and stability, while also highlighting the practice of unjust taxation given the discrepancies in tax treatment for private sector salaried individuals and other sectors like government workers.

The petition called on the court to encourage measures to enforce taxation on non-active taxpayers and informal sectors.

“Request the Supreme Court’s intervention through Suo moto notice to review the constitutional validity and fairness of the tax measures proposed in the Finance Budget 2024-2025,” the petition said, outlining proposed actions for the court. 

“We appeal to the Honorable Court, under Article 184(3) of the Constitution of Pakistan, to uphold justice and protect the rights of the salaried class and all taxpayers in Pakistan. The current taxation policies threaten economic stability and fairness. We seek your urgent attention and intervention to ensure that taxation policies align with principles of equity, economic growth, and national development.”

The rise in the Pakistan government’s tax target is made up of a 48 percent increase in direct taxes and a 35 percent hike in indirect taxes over revised estimates of the current year. Non-tax revenue, including petroleum levies, is seen increasing by 64 percent. The tax would increase to 18 percent on textile and leather products as well as mobile phones besides a hike in the tax on capital gains from real estate. Workers will also get hit with more direct tax on income.

Opposition parties, mainly parliamentarians backed by the jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, and major trade bodies have rejected the budget, saying it will be highly inflationary and lead to industry shutdowns. On Monday, a main religious political party, the Jamaat-e-Islami, announced it would hold a sit-in in Islamabad against taxes and inflation from July 12. 

Pakistan’s central bank has also warned of possible inflationary effects from the budget, saying limited progress in structural reforms to broaden the tax base meant increased revenue must come from hiking taxes. 

The upcoming year’s growth target has been set at 3.6 percent, with inflation projected at 12 percent.

ISLAMABAD: Canadian cricket franchise Vancouver Knights announced recently it had appointed Pakistan’s Muhammad Rizwan to lead the franchise in the upcoming season of the Global T20 league, which would feature some of the world’s top cricketing talents in action later this month. 

The Global T20 Canada is a professional Twenty20 cricket tournament that is played in the country. The first two editions of the tournament were played in 2018 and 2019 before the league was suspended for three years due to the coronavirus pandemic, returning in 2023. 

The fourth edition of the tournament will begin in Canada from July 25 to August 11 and will feature six franchises, the Brampton Wolves, Montreal Tigers, Vancouver Knights, Toronto Nationals, Mississauga Panthers and Surrey Jaguars. 

 “Hear ye, hear ye! The Vancouver Knights have chosen their captain for GT20 Season 4: Sir Mohammad Rizwan,” Vancouver Knights wrote on social media platform X on Sunday. “With his mighty batting skills and sharp wicketkeeping, he’s ready to lead our charge to victory.”

Rizwan will captain fellow Pakistani teammates Babar Azam, Mohammad Amir and Asif Ali, who are also part of the 18-member Vancouver Knights squad. Azam is the T20I captain of Pakistan’s national squad and will play under Rizwan’s leadership for the first time. 

The Canadian domestic league will also feature other international stars such as Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi, Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, West Indian cricketers Sunil Narine, Carlos Brathwaite, Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan, Namibia’s David Wiese and Australian cricketer David Warner.

The Pakistani cricketers will be seen in action for the first time after their humiliating first-round exit from the recently concluded T20 World Cup 2024 in June. The South Asian team crashed out of the World Cup without qualifying for the second round of the tournament after, successive losses to minnows United States and India. 

Squad:

Babar Azam, Asif Ali, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Rizwan, Jeremy Gordon, Rishiv Joshi, Sandeep Lamichhane, Dwaine Pretorius, Michael Rippon, Dipendra Singh Airee, Harsh Thaker, Ruben Trumpelmann, Paul van Meekeren, Sarmad Anwar, Mandeep Girdhar, Yuvraj Samra, Shubham Sharma, Ajayveer Singh