LAHORE: The Pakistan Flour Mills Association has rejected tax on banking transactions and heavy tax on wheat bran.
The Pakistan Flour Mills Association announced a country-wide strike for an indefinite period from July 11 against the tax on banking transactions and 7 percent sales tax on wheat bran.
Addressing a press conference, central leader of association Asim Raza Ahmad gave a three-day deadline to the federal government to withdraw both taxes; otherwise, the millers would stop wheat washing from July 10, and stop flour production from July 11. He said that sales tax on bran would force the mills to increase flour prices by up to Rs 15.
He said that food items industry across the globe was exempted from taxes, adding that dairy and poultry industries in Pakistan would be directly affected by the tax.
Raza further said that tax on bank transactions, which was aimed at targeting non-tax filers, had started affecting flour mills.
He said that the monetary transactions had been halted since the implementation of the tax from July 1, adding that flours millers were perturbed by the new tax, which would promote ‘hundi’ in the country that is already damaging the national economy every year.
