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Punjab MPs oppose agriculture tax

In a rare show of unity, Punjab Assembly parliamentarians (MPs) from both sides of the political divide on Thursday opposed the federal cabinet’s decision to levy income tax on agriculture following a reported recommendation to that effect by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

MPs from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and PML-Quaid said the imposition of the tax was amounted to breaking the backbone of the Pakistani economy. They said conditions the international financing agencies imposing on Pakistan amounted to direct interference in the internal affairs of the country.

PML-N legislator Waris Kahloon condemned the cabinet’s decision and said Zionist powers wanted to destroy the country’s economy and working on that agenda the IMF had placed the condition of the said tax for sanctioning monetary assistance to cash-strapped Pakistan. He demanded the cabinet publicise all demands stipulated by the IMF.He said that farmers, who were already paying a number of taxes on water, agriculture, electricity and fertilizer, would be ruined after the imposition of the new tax. He feared that growers were not in a position to pay any more taxes and if the government did impose the tax it would have to import food items in future.He demanded the provincial assembly call upon the federal government to refrain from implementing the said decision.