Flour dealers rally against withholding tax

PESHAWAR: Flour dealers staged a protest here on Monday against the withholding tax, demanding its withdrawal by the government.

The protest was organized by the Ata Dealers Association, led by office-bearers, including Patron-in-Chief Waheed Khan, General Secretary Ahmed Faraz, and Press Secretary Taimoor Nawaz.

Tanzeem-e-Tajiran President Malik Mehr Elahi and spokesperson Shahzad Ahmad Khan addressed on the occasion as well. The protesters chanted slogans against the federal government. They argued that businesses in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were already struggling and that the withholding tax on flour would make the lives of the citizens more difficult.

The speakers said that KP residents were suffering due to falling businesses and leaving the province because of the law and order situation, which had increased unemployment. They accused the federal and Punjab governments of being unfair to the flour dealers in KP, demanding to lift the ban on the supply of flour from Punjab to the province.

The flour dealers warned of a shutdown strike if their demands were not met. Waheed Khan stated that the tax would directly impact the general public rather than the dealers. He said the government wanted to make flour dealers agents of the Federal Board of Revenue, which was unacceptable.

The dealers would be required to collect taxes from the public, shopkeepers and bakers, and then provide these details to the government, he explained. Waheed Khan said that withholding tax was an advance tax that should not be imposed on flour dealers.

He questioned the rationale behind collecting advance tax on edible items, pointing out that it would be unfair if a dealer failed to sell the commodity after paying the tax.Waheed Khan noted that flour had never been taxed in the country before, and the present government had ended its subsidized status.

He concluded by saying that the government had previously provided relief in flour prices through subsidies, which benefited the masses but now it not only withdrew the subsidy but also wanted collection of advance tax.