Karachi [Pakistan], July 14 : As the Pakistan economy nosedives, taxation has become the last resort for the government to survive yet another year. However, this heavy taxation is reducing the income of shop owners and individuals owning small or medium-sized businesses.
The latest of these tax burdens was felt by the mobile market in Pakistan, as mobile and tech-related peripherals were brought under heavy taxation.
It is further leading to a decrease in the already diminishing income of small and medium-sized mobile dealers in the country.
Khurram, a small mobile dealer from Karachi, said that the rates of these items have changed drastically within days, and this has created a lot of problems for them.
"The investments we had made while purchasing are now being rendered useless as people are not able to afford high-priced phones. Hence, we demand that the taxes be revoked by the government. The taxes we are bound to pay on our limited sales, exceeds our capacity to pay, and now if we pay everything to the government then what is left with us?," Khurram said.
Another dealer, Basat Ali, while pointing out a phone, said, "Take the example of this phone; merely a few days ago, it was only PKR 1600, and now, it is over PKR 2200. Now tell me who will purchase it and to add to our problems is the close-to-zero profit margin because most of it goes to the government. PKR 1500-1600 were the mobiles that the poor people used to buy after saving a lot. Now the mid-range touch phones, which were approximately PKR 22000, now cost around PKR 27000."
He added that these phones already had low sales and now these numbers have dipped even more. People are now refraining from purchasing any tech products, and this has ruined the business, he lamented.
"And what can we do about this, as the administration will not listen to us at all? This has been a continuous pattern from several previous governments, and have they fulfilled the promises that they had made to the people. There is only one option the government must take all the taxes recently imposed back. So that we are able to survive," he said.
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