Parliament Levies 1% Tax on Mineral Sales

Parliamentarians have mandated the government to tax 1% of miners’ total sales and deposit the earnings with the treasury as part of the next fiscal year’s (March 2018-19) budget. A vote of 115 for and 48 against ratified the measure into place on Monday, IRNA reported. The final implementation of the move, however, requires the consent of provincial mining councils. The new fee comes on top of the 1% environmental tax levied on mineral sales passed by lawmakers early last year, based on Clause 5 of Article 45 of the Sixth Five-Year Development Plan (2017-22). Miners heavily contested the decision back in May, arguing that the taxes will eventually lead to the shutdown of small-scale miners. They also stated that most of the designated councilors with voting rights are government officials, which prevents the private sector from having a say in contested matters.