Traders stage protests against ‘unjustified’ withholding tax
HYDERABAD: Traders and shopkeepers belonging to various trade bodies held demonstrations in parts of Sindh on Tuesday in protest against imposition of 0.6 per cent withholding tax.
In Hyderabad, a demonstration supported by the Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCCI) was held outside the local press club.
Traders of Anaj Mandi Hyderabad belonging to Green Seed, Oil and Merchant Association also kept their businesses shut in protest.
Rejecting the tax, they said the “unfair withholding tax” should be abolished immediately, otherwise they would be forced to close their shops and markets for an indefinite period.
Carrying banners and placards, they chanted slogans against “this ill-advised tax” imposed by the federal government.
The protest was led by Anjuman-e-Tajran Hyderabad president Saleem Hussain Vohra, Green Seed, Oil and General Merchant Association chairman Azam Chohan, Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCCI) former vice president Ziauddin, Anjuman Tajran City Cloth Market president Yousuf Memon, Muslim Cloth Merchant Union president Haji Mohammad Shareef, Anjuman Tajran Qasimabad senior vice president Nihal Chund, Sindh Advertisement and Painting Association president Naseer Ahmed Shaikh Sodagar and others.
HCCI office-bearer Ziauddin and its members Yawar Ali Shah and Abdul Sattar Khan said traders across the country rejected this forced tax and the chamber would support traders in their fight against this injustice.
It was a cruel tax that would hurt the national economy and national exchequer while promoting unlawful transaction of money like Hundi and others ways, they said.
All traders from Karachi to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, they said, were united on this point and if the government did not review its decision to do away with the tax, traders would be forced to go on strike.
They said banks had no data of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and they were imposing 0.6 per cent withholding tax even on those who filed income tax. The FBR had also failed to keep complete data.
Instead of imposing this “unnatural tax”, tax net be widened, they said, adding that except for traders, widows, pensioners and other poor people also made transactions and they had to pay 0.6 per cent tax as well.
Traders explained that this withholding tax of 0.6 per cent, which was being imposed on those who did not file income tax, would have to be paid on withdrawal of over Rs50,000 in cash and even on online bank transactions of the same amount.
However, those who filed income tax would pay 0.3 percent withholding tax on withdrawal of cash over Rs50,000. They would be exempted from this tax if online transactions were made. If a trader withdrew Rs100,000, he would have to pay Rs6,000 according to 0.6 per cent of withholding tax, traders said.
“I described this tax as an economic murder of all traders. Traders from interior of Sindh are using cash instead of cheques after introduction of this tax. We are in danger as we and our customers remain unsafe when dealings are being made in cash these days,” Green Seed, Oil and General Merchant Association (GSOGMA) chairman Azam Chohan.
He said this was a season as Eidul Fitr was approaching, therefore traders were not going on a shutter-down, but after Eid they would go on a strike if the tax was not abolished till then.
GSOGMA president Haji Haroon Memon said traders would never tolerate this injustice at all.
In Sukkur, traders took out a rally against imposition of the new tax.
According to detail, the rally was led by Sukkur Small Traders president Haji Muhammad Jawed Memon, Sharif Dada, Moulana Mehboob Ali Sahito, Ghulam Mustafa Phulpoto and others.The Pakistan Peoples Party (Shaheed Bhutto) has announced to observe a shutter-down strike throughout Jacobabad district on July 9 (Thursday) against excessive power load shedding.
The rally was started from Sarafa Bazar which marched on different roads of the city and reached the Dolphin Chowk near Sukkur press club where participants held a demonstration, staged a sit-in while raising slogans against the new tax.
Addressing the participants, the trade leaders said the new tax on each bank transaction up to Rs100,000 was unjustified.
They said that whenever the PML-N came in power, it imposed illegal taxes.
In the past, due to such attitude from Finance Minister Ishaq Darr, the government of the PML-N was ended and now once again the PML-N government could go due to such action of Ishaq Darr, they said.
The leaders warned that if the government did not withdraw its decision, a sit-in would be held in Islamabad on July 11.
The Motorcar Show Room Association Sukkur under leadership of Abdul Khaliq Laghari, Abdul Fatah Kolachi, Ghulam Rasool Abbasi and others also staged a protest demonstration against imposition of new 0.6 per cent tax on bank transaction from the federal government.
According to reports, it was decided in a meeting of the PPP (Shaheed Bhutto) held in Jacobabad on Tuesday which was convened by PPP (SB) district president Nadeem Ahmed Qureshi.
Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2015
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