Pakistan

Provinces unite in refusal to allow agricultural tax

In a special meeting, provincial representatives said provinces will not allow agricultural income to be taxed.

Express June 08, 2011

In a special meeting on Wednesday, provincial government representatives announced that the provinces will not allow the centre to collect tax on agricultural income.

The opposition to collection of tax by the centre came during a special meeting held in Islamabad with Federal Finance Minister in the chair.

The provinces have also not agreed to the federation's suggestion that the tax on agricultural income should be raised to 5% from the present 1.5%.

The purpose of the meeting was to determine the new tax rate for agricultural income.

Senior Advisor Sardar Zulfiqar Khosa represented Punjab while Sindh Finance Minister Murad Ali Shah, K-P Finance Minister Engineer Humayun and Balochistan finance secretary represented their respective provinces.

The provinces have asked the federal government to provide a record of the taxpayers who have declared income from agriculture in their tax returns.

Earlier this week, the Sindh Chamber of Agriculture rejected the proposal of levying new taxes on the agriculture sector.

“The proposed income tax on agriculture will prove to be very harmful for agricultural production as well as the prices of goods in the market,” said the Sindh Chamber of Agriculture’s vice president, Mir Murad Talpur.

He believed the prices of agriculture goods will increase rapidly as a result of the imposition.

COMMENTS (1)

Ali | 13 years ago | Reply The provincial governments are dominated by the rich land owners. They are about as likely to vote for tax rises as turkeys are to vote for christmas. At the moment they pay pittance in taxes. I think Sindh collects something like 50 million ruppees. That's enough for 3-4 Toyota Corrollas. Do they think we are stupid? Many of the rich landlords spend their summers in Europe on vacation and send their children to foreign universities. Go to Islamabad and see the size of many of the homes that these people keep. Yet when asked to pay tax they claim that they are suffering from drought. The wheat exported abroad comes from where & where do the export earning go? The money they spend abroad comes from where? The industries in Lahore and Karachi should refuse to pay any tax until this situation is rectified.

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