Newspaper Industry Opposes Huge Tax in Budget

The All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) has rejected the imposition of a 10 percent GST, calling it “disastrous for the survival of the already crisis-ridden print media” and urged the government to continue the exemption. In an immediate response to the Federal Budget 2024-25 presented in the National Assembly on Wednesday, APNS President Nazafreen Saigol Lakhani and Secretary Sarmad Ali highlighted that increased production costs due to the depreciation of the rupee had already burdened the newspaper industry.   “The imposition of GST on newsprint imported by the newspaper industry would be disastrous for the survival of the already crisis-ridden print media,” they said in a joint statement. They noted that all inputs used by newspapers are imported, and the unprecedented depreciation of the Pakistani rupee has significantly raised production costs. This, in turn, has increased newspaper cover prices, severely affecting circulation. They added that the financial strain has been compounded by federal and provincial governments’ non-payment of long-outstanding dues.   APNS office-bearers stated that the newspaper industry had expected relief measures, including a 35 percent increase in the long-overdue government advertisement rates. Still, instead, GST was levied in the budget. “The print media is the fourth pillar of the state and serves the nation by protecting people’s right to know and express. It is therefore obligatory for the government to support access to information, especially in a time of misinformation and disinformation,” said the statement, urging Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to withdraw the GST on newsprint.