Grocers reject proposed fixed tax, warn of nationwide protest

ISLAMABAD: The Grocery Merchants Association has rejected the government’s proposed annual fixed tax of Rs25,000, saying it is unacceptable when combined with a one per cent turnover tax on small traders.

The association warned that it could launch a nationwide protest against the levy. Central Grocery Merchants Association Divisional President Saleem Pervaiz Butt said the fixed tax and the one per cent turnover tax would raise the overall tax burden to Rs500,000 a year.

Butt said shopkeepers dealing in grocery items including flour, sugar, ghee and cooking oil earn profits ranging from Rs5 to Rs15, and argued that a tax burden of Rs500,000 a year was not workable for small retailers.

He also warned that the situation would worsen if the policy continued. "If the fixed tax Rs25,000 and one per cent of the turnover, a year later, the fixed tax will be Rs50,000 and three per cent of the turnover, which will spell disaster for small shopkeepers," he said.

Butt said the traders would be willing to accept the Rs25,000 fixed tax if the government withdrew the one per cent turnover tax.