The second budget of the Coalition Government stays close to long-term macro objectives and was consistent with signals given. The bulk of the revenue comes from corporate and personal income taxes which are progressive in nature, a research report by Bartleet Religare Securities (Pvt) Ltd said.
“The absence of one-off taxes we have seen previously, the one policy backtracking proposal comes in the form of restricting maximum plantation ownership irrespective of current profitability.
The taxation policies move in the direction of the 2015 policy statement which targeted a direct to indirect tax proportion closer to 40:60.
The Budget also prioritizes capital market development with demutualization of the CSE, selling off of the non strategic investments and introducing alternative trading boards for SMEs. The 2017 budget aims for a deficit of 4.6% from last year’s 5.4%. The Revenue/GDP has climbed to 15.5% from 13.4%,” the report added.