The government is cutting taxes for some salaried workers while leaving millions untouched. Those earning between Rs230,000 and Rs341,000 monthly will see relief under the new budget framework, but anyone making between Rs100,000 and Rs183,000—the backbone of Pakistan’s formal workforce—gets nothing. That’s the trade-off being prepared in Islamabad right now.
Shehbaz Sharif’s coalition is juggling IMF commitments with electoral math. The government needs Rs15.3 trillion in FBR revenue for next fiscal year, which means relief for some must come from somewhere else. The answer: Rs660 billion to Rs700 billion in fresh tax measures, hitting new levies and enforcement crackdowns across the board. Go figure—give with one hand, take with the other.
The maximum tax rate is dropping to around 30 percent from 35 percent, which sounds substantial until you check who actually benefits.
Who Gets Relief and Who Doesn’t
The math is deliberately narrow. Workers earning Rs230,000 to Rs300,000 monthly see the steepest cuts, with another bracket—Rs266,000 to Rs341,000—getting comparable reduction on amounts above Rs266,000. A government official walking through Karachi’s business district or Lahore’s corporate towers will tell you this targets upper-middle professionals: bank managers, consultants, mid-tier corporate staff. Meanwhile, schoolteachers making Rs120,000, junior staff at insurance companies, clinic doctors running small practices—they see absolutely nothing according to the budget proposal. The silence for that Rs100,000 to Rs183,000 band is deafening.
Limited fiscal space is what bureaucrats call it. Real people call it choosing who matters and who doesn’t, reported TheCapital.pk when covering similar revenue cycles.
Tax relief comes with strings attached
This budget carries the fingerprints of an IMF program. You cannot cut taxes for mid-earners and miss revenue targets simultaneously, so enforcement gets sharper: property sales will face tighter scrutiny, retail chains will be audited more aggressively, and anyone with income that doesn’t match their tax file gets flagged. The government is creating a pattern—relief for salaried professionals who are already registered with FBR, pressure on everyone else to formalize or pay more. That’s deliberate policy, not accident.
For someone in Peshawar or Multan working a salaried job, this is what matters: if you earn above Rs230,000 monthly, your next paycheck gets lighter. Below that threshold, you’ll watch others get relief while your salary doesn’t move.
