Minister demands withdrawal of ginning factory taxes

KARACHI:

Provincial Minister for Agriculture Ismail Rahu demanded the federal government withdraw sales tax levied on ginning factories and demanded immediate withdrawal of 17% sales tax on cotton oil seeds and cotton.

The provincial minister further stated that two years ago, the “incompetent federal government” had imposed 10% tax on cotton which has now been increased to 17%. He said the wrong policies of Imran Khan’s government had already caused a lot of damage to the agriculture sector.

The provincial minister said that there has never been a sales tax on ginning factories before. He said no country in the world has a tax on the cotton industry at the stage of ginning. Ismail Rahu said taxes are levied on the post-ginning stages.

“Due to poor the policy of the government, cotton growers and industrialists have lost their livelihood. Five years ago, Pakistan was ranked fourth in the world in cotton production.”

He said the country would import upto 4 billion to run textile mills. He said cotton production in Pakistan was 15 million bales five years ago and the figure had been reduced to 5.67 million under the PTO government.

He added that 5 years ago, 1,300 ginning factories were in operation. The provincial minister said that imposing sales tax on ginning and cotton oil seeds would be very harmful. “This tax ultimately would be paid by the farmer.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 27^th, 2021.