The KPK based tobacco growers explained that how some influenced farmers are incorrectly claiming that the Advance Tax on green tobacco is putting burden on them said that their rights are protected by laws made by the government.
They said that the farmer associations are being used to pressure government for taking back corrective steps which are introduced to curtail illegal trade to help tobacco crop sustainability over a long period of time.
Referring to the farmers, who held protest for eliminating the advance tax of Rs300 per kg, they said that some of the farmers incorrectly claim that they will be exploited since due to the 'adjustable' excise duty, the demand for tobacco will go down and the farmers will be left with unsold crop. They added "that this is factually incorrect since Section 20A of the Pakistan Tobacco Board (PTB) Ordinance 1968 gives full protection to the farmers and makes it compulsory for tobacco companies to purchase any surplus of excess unsold tobacco by the tobacco manufacturers".
To further explain the impact of advance tax they said that farmers incorrectly claim that they will be exploited since due to the 'adjustable' excise duty, they will be offered a lower price for their crop.
"This again is a misstatement since the Minimum Indicative Price (MIP) of tobacco is fixed each year by the Ministry of Commerce with full representation of the farmers and this is the minimum price per kilogram of tobacco which is offered to the tobacco farmers. Any purchase below the minimum price is illegal and prohibited under the PTB laws," he said.
They also clarified another misstatement about the exports. They said that only a small portion of tobacco is actually exported from Pakistan and that is already exempted from this law under FED SRO 1149 of 2018. So it is again a misstatement by the illegal cigarette manufacturers.
Farmers are being misguided and exploited at this stage by the local illegal cigarette manufactures since this levy not only forces them to pay on the adjustable tax on processed leaf but also provides FBR with leaf purchase data for all manufacturers.
This tax is advance and adjustable and applied on manufacturers and does not hurt the farmers at all whereas local illegal cigarette manufacturers continue to misguide the farmers of KPK for their own benefits, they added.