Pakistani Farmers Move Against New Tax

Source from:  Tobacco Reporter 03/21/2012

Tobacco farmers from Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province are calling on the federal government to withdraw a new Rs10 per kg tax on leaf tobacco, according to a Business Recorder story replayed by the TMA. The new impost comes on top of federal and provincial taxes of Rs2.60 and Rs1.70 per kg respectively. The farmers have threatened to launch countrywide agitation if their demand is not met. Farmuddin Bakshali, a representative of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Tobacco Dealers' Association, said the additional tax was "unjust and illegal" and amounted to "economic genocide" of the province's farmers. The federal government earned about Rs75 billion each year in direct and indirect tobacco taxes, he added. Enditem