Fiscal measures for stock market
Taxes, investment of undisclosed money elicit mixed responses
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Market operators and experts have given mixed reactions to measures announced for the secondary market in the proposed budget for FY25.
Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali finally went ahead with the capital gain tax, allowed undisclosed money into stocks, apartments, lands, etc. with a one-off payment of 15 per cent tax without a question asked about the source of income, and narrowed the tax gap between listed and non-listed companies.
Mr Ali said many taxpayers might have mistakenly shown less than the assets they acquired while filing the tax returns. Hence, they should be given "an opportunity to correct this error in their income tax returns", which will also increase the money flow into the mainstream economy.
According to the proposed provisions, no authority can raise any question if a taxpayer pays at a flat rate of 15 per cent tax on immovable properties, such as flats, apartments and lands and other resources, including cash, irrespective of the existing laws of the country.
The finance minister also proposed reducing corporate tax rate for not-listed companies by 2.5 percentage points to 25 per cent, which will narrow the tax gap to 2.5 per cent to 5 per cent between non-listed and listed companies.