MUHAMMAD SALEEM

LAHORE: Rejecting claims that the government has taken new taxation measures on “someone” else’s dictation, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday stated that increased levies will only target “non-essential luxury goods” but not the common man.

Talking to the media persons after opening a language and computer lab at the Jamia Hajveria, he claimed: “We have kept in mind not to increase duties that will make items more expensive for the common man.” The minister, who was accompanied by provincial ministers Mian Atta Manika and Bilal Yasin and the city’s governing party President, Mohammad Pervaiz Malik, inaugurated the three-day 972nd Urs of Saint Ali bin Usman Sheikh Ali Hajveri, commonly known as Data Ganj Bakhsh, by laying a wreath on his shrine. He also prayed for the country’s progress and prosperity.

The minister also told the media: “Only rich people have been targeted by taking additional revenue measures to make up for about a 40-billion-rupee shortfall in the revenue target for the first quarter of the current financial year. Nobody will be allowed to raise prices of locally-produced items under the pretext of these measures. The revenue to be generated through these measures will be spent on the well-being and rehabilitation of the internally displaced people, the operation Zarb-e-Azb apart from providing resources to the provinces for public welfare. This is the final year of the Zarb-e-Azb.”

He said price control committees would ensure price stability.