Flour mills to go on strike from today

LAHORE: Chairman of the Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA) Asim Raza has announced that following failed negotiations with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), there will be a nationwide strike of flour mills starting Thursday (today).

He said that they refused to become withholding agents, asserting that tax collection is the government’s responsibility, not theirs. He mentioned that 600 flour mill owners approved the strike resolution in a recent meeting.

From July 11, the supply of flour to the market will be suspended. He warned that if this tax is imposed, the price of flour will increase further.

The participants in the meeting expressed serious reservations about the taxation measures announced by the government and unanimously rejected the levy of withholding tax. “We simply refuse to be withholding agents for collecting taxes,” they asserted. “Tax collection is the work of the government, not ours. The business of flour mills is already within the tax net by paying various types of taxes,” they claimed.

They believe that the initiative taken by the FBR to make flour mills withholding agents will lead to an increase in the price of flour for people already suffering from inflation.The PFMA requested that the prime minister review this decision and immediately grant an exemption to the flour mill industry so that people can get their basic food at affordable prices. It was decided that if PFMA’s demands are not met, flour mill owners will be left with no option but to shut down the flour mill industry for an indefinite period.