Grocers reject proposed fixed tax

RAWALPINDI:

The Grocery Merchants Association has rejected the government's annual fixed tax of Rs25,000. They said that the Rs25,000 being imposed on small traders in addition to a one per cent turnover tax, was unacceptable under any circumstances.

They threatened to carry out a nationwide protest against the tax. Central Grocery Merchants Association Divisional President Saleem Pervaiz Butt said that the fixed tax and one per cent turnover tax will take the total tax up to Rs500,000 per year. He clarified that shopkeepers' profit on grocery items such as flour, sugar, ghee and cooking oil is Rs5 to Rs15 per year, which means that Rs500,000 in tax is simply unfeasible.

"If the fixed tax Rs25,000 and one per cent of the turnover, a year later, the fixed tax will be Rs50,000 and three per cent of the turnover, which will spell disaster for small shopkeepers," said Butt. He added that if the government was willing to roll back the one per cent tax, they would accept the Rs25,000 fixed tax.