Business blues: Traders demand abolishment of loading-unloading tax

Claim it increases prices and has a negative effect on the provincial economy.


Hidayat Khan May 17, 2013
“The tax imposition is a cause for concern and worry for the business community," says a K-P representative of the transport association. DESIGN: ESSA MALIK

PESHAWAR:


Traders and transporters have termed the town administrations’ imposition of a loading-unloading levy ‘double taxation’, and demanded it be rescinded on an immediate basis.


Traders claimed the tax, which was introduced by the former Awami National Party government, not only increased prices of consumer goods, but also created a hurdle for traders bringing in raw materials from other provinces.

“The tax imposition is a cause for concern and worry for the business community as they are already suffering due to the bad law and order situation in the province,” said Israr Shinwari, a representative of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) transport association.

Shinwari said officials of the municipal committee clad in black uniforms were deployed near Ring Road and all other entry points of the city to collect the tax from passing vehicles.

The representative further said traders and transporters were already paying various types of taxes including a token tax, income tax and regional permit tax. He said this was another imposition which would negatively affect K-P’s business and transporter community.



Local farmers who bring their vegetables and other agriculture products into the city to sell have also been brought under the levy’s umbrella. Farmers claimed the tax is ‘cruel’ and increases vegetable prices in the city.

Despite the official figures, All K-P Traders Association Secretary Shaukat Ali Khan alleged there was no fixed rate, as the tax was being collected according to the wishes of contractors who had taken contracts from municipal administrations.

Dubbing it ‘ghunda tax’, Khan expressed hope that the incoming government would abolish the levy in order to revitalise flagging industrial units, boost exports and enhance the provincial economy. “Traders should be provided with facilities instead of increased burdens,” he argued.

Khan also explained the tax is eventually borne by consumers as a result of increasing prices, adding this effectively made the levy a dual tax. He pointed out loading-unloading tax had been abolished by the former government of Nawaz Sharif, but later reintroduced by the Awami National Party.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 18th, 2013.

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