Govt to Make Cars Even More Expensive in Upcoming Budget

The federal government is reportedly planning to impose Withholding Tax (WHT) on locally produced automobiles on the basis of invoice price instead of engine capacity in the upcoming budget. In connection with such reports, the Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA) has warned of the detrimental consequences of such a move on the already struggling auto industry. In a letter to the Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), which is available with ProPakistani, PAMA has stated that changing the basis of WHT will negatively impact the sales of locally-made vehicles. PAMA has requested the FBR not to proceed with this proposal as it will increase the amount of WHT on locally-made vehicles and inevitably raise their retail prices. PAMA has also requested to reduce the current engine-based WHT on vehicles. PAMA has also noted that barring a decline during the COVID-19 years of 2019-20 and 2020-21, the auto industry started to revive during 2021-22 and nosedived massively again in 2022-23 due to the import restrictions. Several PAMA members are incurring losses worth billions of rupees due to such restrictions, skyrocketing inflation, and other macroeconomic maladies prevailing in the country, PAMA concluded.