Pakistan Poultry Association (Punjab Zone) has urged government to give poultry industry income tax exemption for 10 years in order to attract new investors in this business and ensure availability of poultry products within the affordable prices.
Pakistan Poultry Association (Punjab Zone) Chairman Shahid Mahmood Dar and Abdul Basit have demanded this while addressing a joint press conference here on Monday. Poultry industry leaders floated recommendations for the forthcoming budget for their industry. They also demanded that electricity tariff which is given to tube-wells for agriculture should also be applied on poultry farms.
PPA leaders unveiled their recommendations for both the federal and the provincial budget on this occasion. Regarding central budget, they demanded that subsidy on the export of poultry products and rebate at the rate of 25 per cent should be given to the exporters of eggs and a day old chicken.
They demanded that the import of grand parent stock might be allowed duty free. All items and medicines related to poultry, which were registered by the Ministry of Health should be allowed to import on duty of maximum 10 per cent. They said that import of poultry medicine should also be free of custom duty and sales tax, especially the items, which are not being locally produced.
Regarding provincial duties on poultry industry, they said that the no objection certificate (NOC) fee up to Rs 1000 should be charged instead of Rs 5 per sq ft. Other proposals include that license fee per poultry farm should be charged at Rs 250 per year, license fee for feed mill should be Rs 2000 per year, Hatchery Rs 2000 per year, development charges should be fixed at Rs 500 per acre, building plan fee and malba fee should be exempted and not to be charged from the farmers.
Shahid Dar and Abdul Basit further stated that poultry industry was a part of agricultural sector and was regulated by Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, therefore it was not liable to be taxed under Urban Immovable Property Tax Act 1956 and it was not covered under the categories classified for purpose of levy of property tax.
Therefore property tax, which has been levied on the poultry industry, should be withdrawn forthwith and small poultry farms should be given incentives, like small agriculturists are exempted from all kinds of taxes, they added. They also called for issuance of special grants and interest free loans up to Rs one million to the small farmers, who have suffered due to the rumours of bird flu.
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