STAFF REPORT MULTAN: A veteran industrialist has prescribed reduction in sales tax to give boost to tractor manufacturing which has declined to only 18,376 units in 2013-14 from 71,000 in 2010-11 since the levy of sales tax in 2011-12.

“The goal of modern and mechanized agriculture could only be achieved by reducing taxes on agriculture machinery and simplifying their purchase procedure,” said Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industrys (MCCI) convener of sub-committee on engineering, environment and energy, Mian Iqbal Hassan.

He said 80 per cent parts of tractors were manufactured locally and 71,000 units were manufactured in Pakistan in 2010-11, which not only had good quality but also carried the lowest price tag in the world. However, the manufacturing started reducing since 2011-12 with the levy of 16 per cent general sales tax and 49,745 units were produced in that year.

This ratio was 1.01 HP per acre in India, 1.37 HP per acre in China, and 2.83 HP per acre in Japan, he added. He said Pakistans agriculture production was much lower compared to its potential.

He said that tractor industry was considered to be the mother industry of automobile sector and appealed to reduce sales tax on tractors to zero or at the most five per cent.

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