Students, parents to pay taxes on every pencils, pens, colour pencils, rulers and sharpeners buy

ISLAMABAD:

The prices of locally-manufactured writing instruments will increase by up to a fifth even before they reach factory gates, as the government has indirectly slapped a 17% sales tax on the industry’s raw material, making manufacturing unviable.

The government’s decision to tax unregistered companies is likely to increase the retail market prices of all types of pencils, pens, colour pencils, rulers and sharpeners by more than 20%, according to industry insiders.

The

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