Budget 2026-27: Beauty parlours, skin clinics may get tax reduction

Several important tax suggestions have arisen ahead of the budget for the next fiscal, including prospective relief measures for exporters, adjustments in import taxes and revisions to taxation on specific industries and items.

The administration said the proposed budget changes include incentives to encourage exports. It called for the abolition of the one per cent advance tax now imposed on exporters.

The plans also see a fall in import duty on cosmetic products, with the duty on imported beauty items possibly coming down from 44 percent to 40 percent.

Imported machinery and equipment used by health and fitness establishments, beauty parlours and medical clinics would also be tax-exempt.

If authorised, import levies on products such as sunblock, sunscreen, shaving cream, aftershave and lotions might be cut, making such items possibly cheaper.

The budget recommendations also seek to make it mandatory for retail pricing to be printed on products such as infant formula milk, ketchup, ghee, cooking oil and tea leaves. The measure is designed to improve the collection of sales taxes on food purchases.

The government also plans to increase climate levy on petroleum items and withdraw tax exemptions offered for combined districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The proposal allows the climate levy on petroleum products to be hiked from Rs2.5 per litre to Rs5 per litre.

The measures are recommended as part of the budget planning process and must be approved before they take effect.