HYDERABAD, Nov 23: The Sindh Chamber of Agriculture at a meeting here on Sunday opposed the proposed imposition of agricultural income tax and decided to resist any such move with the cooperation of the Pakistan Federation of Chamber of Agriculture and other growers associations of the country.

Syed Qamaruzzaman Shah, the president of the chamber, who is also the president of the Pakistan Federation of Chambers of Agriculture, presided over the meeting.

The meeting pointed out that there was no rational for imposing any further tax on the growers as they were already paying many taxes which were being collected by the provincial governments.

Giving details, the meeting said that the growers were paying agriculture income tax, land tax, GST on abiyana, pesticides and fertilisers as well as sugar cess and tax on diesel/petrol.

It said that since the government is already deducting these taxes at source from the growers, the levy of any other tax would be absolutely illegal and unconstitutional.

It argued that the matter pertained to the provincial governments, therefore, the president and prime minister should intervene in the matter.

Inviting the attention of the government to the alleged evasion of taxes by sugar mills, cotton mills, manufacturers and suppliers of different items to the growers, the meeting called upon the president and prime minister of Pakistan to establish a regulatory authority in order to recover tax from the mills and suppliers and also to maintain proper record.

It requested that the growers’ bodies such as Sindh Chamber of Agriculture, Sindh Abadgar Board and the Federation of Chambers of Agriculture should be given representation in the regulatory authority.

The meeting decided to convene an urgent meeting of the growers at Multan at which minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Shah Mehmood Qureshi, will also be invited to find out ways and means to oppose the imposition of agricultural tax.