ISLAMABAD: MNA Ali Awan on Monday stated that a level playing field should be provided to the marble businesses whether operating in the tribal areas or other districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
He informed the house that the marble processing units were closing their operation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa owing to the disparity in taxes.
Earlier, Economic Affairs Minister Hammad Azhar told the National Assembly that the marble products produced and then sold in the former federally and provincially administered tribal areas were exempted from taxes.
He was responding to a Calling Attention Notice of members regarding imposition of taxes on marble processing units of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (other than tribal districts).
Azhar said 17 per cent sales tax was imposed at the retail stage on the marble products made in tribal areas but sold in other parts of the country.
MNA Ehsan Ullah Tiwana told the house that the imposition of taxes was forcing the industrialists to shift to tax exempted areas of former federally and provincially administered tribal areas, leaving thousands of workers jobless in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
MNA Ali Nawaz Awan informed that 90 per cent of the marble mines were located in tribal areas while 75 per cent of the processing was also done there, while 25 per cent processing took place in areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
