The coalition government on Monday imposed new taxes of over Rs70 billion through a mini-budget.

President Dr. Alvi has approved the Tax Laws Second Amendment Ordinance 2022 under Article 89 (1) of the Constitution on the advice of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The Ordinance has amended the Sales Tax Act 1990, Income Tax Ordinance, Federal Excise Act 2005 and Finance Act 2022.

Under the Presidential Ordinance, up to 7.5 percent of sales tax has been imposed on the electricity bills of traders, while 5pc sales tax will be imposed on the electricity bills of traders less than 20 thousand.

The government is likely to get about Rs 27 billion in taxes from this initiative.

Federal Excise Duty (FED) on imported vehicles has been increased which will increase the government’s revenue up to Rs14 billion.

Meanwhile, the FED rate has been kept unchanged on imported vehicles used for public transport or delivery of goods.

The tax on 1000 cigarettes of tier one has increased from 5900 to 6500 rupees, while the tax on cigarettes of tier two has been increased from 1850 to 2050 rupees.

Apart from this, tax exemption has also been kept for the motor vehicles of foreign diplomats or foreign missions

The income tax on diplomats, which was mistakenly imposed in the budget has been abolished.

The tax exemption on the Kuwait Foreign Trade Contract Company has been restored.