LAHORE: Flour millers o linked calling off strike with a written clarification from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) that no change is made in the existing tax regime.
Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA) has already announced plans to go on a two-day strike from June 24 as a protest against budget measures proposing a hike in income tax on turnover of flour mills and increase the sales tax on bran.
Earlier, FBR Chairman Asim Ahmed in a WhatsApp message said that in the Finance Bill 2021, the table prescribing tax rates for a minimum tax on a turnover basis has been substituted for providing relief to retailers of fast-moving consumer goods including flour mills and refineries. However, inadvertently the words, “flour mills” could not be mentioned.
“We will be meeting the FBR chairman on Thursday and if they [tax authorities] release a statement on Wednesday night we’ll call off our strike in the morning,” Rawalpindi-Islamabad Flour Mills Association Patron Tariq Sadiq said.
