In the recently presented federal budget for the financial year 2022-23, the people in the middle class were probably the worst affected and the most neglected. Their difficulties will further multiply as the prices of gas, electricity and petrol go up in the coming days.
Of course, the salaries of the government employees have been increased by 15 percent, but the 70 percent of the salaried persons are employed in the private sector. No attempt has been made to increase the salaries of these 70 percent people. According to the experts of economy, there are some taxes and levies, which were not mentioned in the main budget speech, but these are included in the finance bill.
Due to these levies and taxes, inflation will further shoot up, prices of essential goods will go up, and people stuck up in the middle class will be the target. They will have to bear the brunt of the onslaught, as the cliché goes. At the very start of the new financial year in July 2022, the government will receive Rs30 for a litre of diesel and petrol. Under the head of gas development surcharge, the revised target was to collect 25 billion rupees this year, but the target set in the new budget will be 200 billion rupees, which will be received from consumers through gas bills.
Similarly, the government has increased the levy on LPG from five billion to eight billion rupees, which will be received from consumers. It may be mentioned here that 70 percent of the salaried persons are employed in the informal economy, in which the powers to enhance or not to enhance the salaries lie with the employer. With the diminishing purchasing power, this section of society will have to come down from a car to a motorcycle, due to the prevailing petrol prices. An identical compromise will have to be struck with regard to the food and education of the children. This virtually means withdrawing them from quality schools to ordinary schools.