KATHMANDU, Sept 8: The government has revised the tax rates on a number of goods in just two months of the announcement of the budget for 2022/23.

Since the government announced the budget on May 29, it has been criticized for its ‘unfair’ decisions on its tax provisions for a number of goods. Publishing a notice in the Nepal Gazette on Thursday, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) revised the customs duty on imported raw materials of sanitary pad and edible oils and iron rods, among others.

The MoF has halved the import duty on iron rods from the existing 10 percent. Similarly, the excise duty on the iron bars has been reduced from Rs 3,500 to Rs 2,500 per ton. After the MoF raised the taxes on the goods through the budget, industrialists have been protesting against the government’s decision. According to them, it hiked their production cost heavily to produce GI wire.

Similarly, the government has removed the excise duty completely on the imported perforated PE, the raw material used to manufacture sanitary pads. Earlier, the government reduced the customs duty on imported sanitary pads by 90 percent. The domestic manufacturers have been expressing their dissatisfaction that the government’s decision would trash the local products.   

Likewise, the government has also reduced the customs duty on raw materials of vegetable ghee, palm oil, soybean oil and sunflower oil to up to 90 percent.

After facing huge criticism from different fronts following the hike in taxes, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma last month formed a panel under Revenue Secretary Rameshwor Dangal to study the matter.   

 
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