ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira on Monday said that General Sales Tax (GST) has been reformed to expand the tax net because the country was in dire need of this change.

Talking to a private television channel, the Minister said that matter was discussed at length with all the stakeholders.

He said the GST has already been imposed on various items in the range of 15-17 per cent and no increase was made in its rate in the new shape.

This has been done for expanding the tax net up to the retailers, he added.

It was an incorrect impression that government was introducing new taxes he said and added the taxes already in force were being reformed to ensure better collection.

The Minster also dispelled the impression that certain parliamentarians and holders of state offices were not paying any tax explaining that direct tax was deducted from the salaries and other perks of the parliamentarians and ministers.

He said that government was pursuing a policy of reforming and restructuring the public sector organizations to make them financially viable so that they may not need the help of the national exchequer to meet their deficit.

He said that PEPCO was presently facing deficit of Rs. 256 billion annually, out of which around Rs 150 billion burden was created due to gap between purchase and sale prices of electricity.

The government has only two options in this regard either to bear the burden itself or pass it on to the masses, the Minister said.

As far as the phenomenon of power theft and line losses is concerned, the major portion of power theft comes from FATA and Balochistan and the law and order conditions in both the areas are not conducive to ensure efficient recoveries.

As soon the law and order condition in these areas is improved the situation would come under control to certain extent, he said.

Efforts were, however, being made to reduce the line losses by improving the infrastructure, the Minister said.