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“Finance Bill 2019” moved for approval in NA

“Finance Bill 2019” moved for approval in NA
June 28, 2019
ISLAMABAD (92 News) – State Minister for Revenue Hammad Azhar on Friday moved “The Finance Bill, 2019” to give legal effect to the budgetary proposals for the next fiscal year in the National Assembly (NA). The NA resumed its session at the parliament house in Islamabad today with Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri in the chair. The house will also give approval to the Finance Bill 2019 with certain amendments. During the final debate session, the opposition accused Qasim Khan Suri of being biased. The MNAs raised slogans against each other. In the start of debate, Opposition Leader in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif presented the proposed amendment to the Finance Bill in the parliament, demanding to replace Finance Act 2019 word with ‘IMF Obedience Act 2019’. Khawaja Asif, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Marrium Aurangzeb, Barjees Tahir, Murtaza Javed Abbasi, Khurram Dastagir, Ayesha Ghaus Pasha, Mohsin Ranjha and Shaza Fatima, amongst others, signed the amendment bill. Before the final vote happened, the opposition once more recorded their protest over the budget, with most members of the opposition wearing black armbands. Taking the floor, PML-N's Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said, “We totally reject this anti-public budget.” PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal, once he got the floor, said: “If the prime minister of a country is taking it towards bankruptcy then the country doesn't require an enemy. This is an anti-growth budget that will bring in unemployment, poverty and backwardness.” Iqbal said this is an anti-poor, anti-salaried class budget and that the selected budget should be withdrawn and a new people-friendly budget should be presented. PPP leader Raja Pervez Ashraf took the floor to say that no matter who spoke about the budget, "the fact is that every person is talking against it. “Imran Khan had stated that if there is an honest leadership then people will happily give taxes. However, the government has failed to collect even the same amount of tax which was being collected by the previous governments that he says was comprising of thieves.” Responding to the opposition, Minister for Revenue Hammad Azhar said that the opposition was quoting wrong figures and that he was sure that the opposition had not actually read the budget document. “For the first time in the country's history, we have reduced civil expenditures up to five per cent,” Azhar said while the opposition made noise in an attempt to interrupt the minister. Amid the din, Azhar tried to quote figures from the budget document in an attempt to prove that Prime Minister House's expenditures had actually been cut and that no new taxes had been imposed on ghee.