Fact Check: Have Agricultural Taxes Actually Increased in Punjab?

Amidst all the economic noise, there have been several posts claiming that the Government has announced an increase in Agricultural taxes for Punjab. All such claims have been termed as baseless. The claims state that a farmer who earns more that Rs 400,000 on an approximate land of 5 acres will have to pay Income tax as stated by the government. The posts also said that the government is allegedly increasing taxes further as well and that now

The Alleged Claim

In the last month, specifically on 16th of September, a user posted a letter over X (Former Twitter). The letter was claimed to be from the Additional Deputy Commissioner Revenue of Khanewal. The letter stated that all farmers who make more than Rs 400,000 per annum for farming over 5 acres of land will now be paying income tax.

The letter was further shared by another X user claiming that the government is very cruel for doing so. Another user over X shared that this is another achievement of the caretaker government and now farmers are going to pay tax, otherwise the Deputy Commissioner will come and take it.

There have been several instances of such posts being shared all over social media which created a lot of trouble and worry amongst the farmers of Punjab.

The Facts

The fact of the matter is that there has been no changes in  the tax slabs of agriculture as of yet and no additional taxes have been imposed on the farmers of Punjab.

There are two types of taxes that can be levied on farmers. These are the Land-based tax and the Income Tax generated by that land if it is used for other than Agriculture throughout the year.

Officials suggest that these tax reforms are as old as 2001 and they have not been changed. The policy suggests that both taxes are to be compared for an individual and the higher one is collected only.

Several Senior members of the Board of Revenue such as Mazhar Hussain have also stated that no additional taxes have been levied on the farmers of Punjab and all such claims are baseless and false.

However, the World Bank has urged for new Tax Reforms and has asked the Govt of Pakistan to tax its Agricultural sector. Read more “World Bank Suggests Taxing Pakistan’s Agriculture and Real Estate.”