Nepal Poultry Federation has demanded to remove the 13% value added tax (VAT) on frozen chicken meat and impose only 5% final duty on imports.
On Tuesday, the delegation of the federation met with Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel and demanded to amend the 5 percent final duty on imported pork meat, as 13 percent value added tax is levied on chicken meat produced in Nepal when it is kept refrigerated and sold.
In the memorandum submitted by them to Minister Paudel, it has been demanded to remove the value added tax saying that the consumer price has increased when the value added tax has been imposed on the primary agricultural products produced in Nepal and piracy has increased.
Until 2079, in the Economic Act, there was an exemption from value added tax on the import of whole and cut frozen chicken meat and there was only a five percent excise duty. In the Economic Act 2080, the excise duty imposed on both of these was removed and a value added tax was imposed.
The general secretary of the federation, Dinesh Mishra, said that the provision of 13% value added tax should be removed as the provision of 13% value added tax is impractical when selling fresh meat but selling the same meat in a refrigerator is impractical. Mishra said that in the
meeting, Finance Minister Paudel said that the government is positive about the federation's demand and will solve the problem with the upcoming budget.
Mishra claimed that the change in taxes in the Economic Act 2080 had a bad effect on the poultry industry, increasing the risk of becoming dependent on an industry that is self-sufficient.
He said that there is an investment of about one trillion 60 billion in the poultry sector, 300,000 people are employed directly and 500,000 people are employed indirectly.
