Karachi traders now threaten of protests

Want govt to take back the levy.

KARACHI: Following in the footsteps of Punjab, small traders in Karachi have threatened to start a series of protests if the government does not withdraw the 0.3% withholding tax on all banking transactions over Rs50,000 conducted by non-filers.

The demand came on Wednesday during a press conference of All Pakistan Organisation of Small Traders and Cottage Industries - an umbrella organisation of various representatives associations. The press conference was conducted at the Karachi Press Club and attended by representatives of different market associations.

“The government is doing all this on instructions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF),” Saddar Traders Alliance representative Abdus Samad said. “But we think the real culprit is not IMF but our government which is accepting such anti-business measures from IMF.”

While threatening the government to take their protests to other cities of the country, Samad said that the Karachi-based traders have the capacity to put severe pressure on the government not only in Karachi but in other cities too.

The representatives of Tariq Road traders association said that they would not even accept 0.1% withholding tax on banking transactions.

Confectionary Association’s Javed Haji Abdullah commented that the profit margins of confectionary traders is very thin while their turnover is very high due to which such traders are facing extreme problems.

“We are not against paying taxes. What we want is rationality in imposing taxes on small and medium size businesses,” he added.

The traders also criticised the government for the current electricity and water shortages in the city and urged the government to force K-Electric to improve its performance.

Federal government imposed 0.6% withholding tax on all banking transactions above Rs50,000 in the budget, but reduced the percentage to 0.3% till August 31 on traders’ demands. However, the agreement also meant that, in return, traders would file income tax returns by that deadline. Now, traders want the government to completely withdraw this tax.

The 0.3% tax is a catch-22 situation for traders. If they remain outside the net, they will have to pay 0.3% on every banking sector transaction.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 30^th, 2015.

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