WHILE senior citizens and pensioners in many countries are exempted from severaldirect andindirect taxes,the said community in Pakistan regularly pays all provincialandfederaltaxes;both direct and indirect. The government is said to be planning to impose income tax on pensioners in the coming federal budget.
If that happens, it will be seriously unjustified.
The pensioners, it must be remembered, happen to be individuals who had paid income tax right through their service span lasting close to 40 years. Being salaried individuals, they did not have the facility of self-assessment schemes like the ones that are used so creatively by members of the business and trading communities.
Likewise, they were not allowed to deduct their legitimate expenses from their taxable income, and, of course, there were no refunds and rebates. Every single penny they earned was taxed year after year.
This helpless, hand-to-mouth class surely deserves some relief at the fag end of their lives when their pension is all they have to survive with any degree of social decency. The government must maintain the current tax exemption on pension.
The government should also introduce separate income tax slabs for the existing salaried class, and extend their taxable income limit. This class should also be allowed the self-assessment facility, and to deduct certain expenses from income while submitting their income tax returns.
