The Taliban-controlled Ministry of Finance has announced that businesses with annual sales of up to two million Afghanis are exempt from paying taxes. However, the group has intensified the collection of “Tithe” and “Zakat” from farmers with the onset of the wheat and fresh fruit harvests.
Farmers and orchard owners in Badakhshan province in the northeast reported severe crop damage caused by heavy rains and destructive floods about three weeks ago. Despite reduced yields, local Taliban officials in this province are forcibly collecting “Tithe” from the people.
These farmers and orchard owners are complaining about the “Tithe” and “Zakat” collected by the Taliban. They urge the group’s leadership to understand the dire economic situation and living conditions and to stop the “oppression and extortion.”
Zohoruddin, a resident of Shuhada district in Badakhshan province, told the Hasht-e Subh Daily that the Taliban are extorting money from farmers under the pretext of “Tithe” and “Zakat” in several villages of this district. He added, “Even though the local Taliban understand that the people have suffered losses this year, they still threaten people to submit their ‘Tithe’ and ‘Zakat’ without any discussion.”
He said that due to both the rains and the Taliban’s collection of “Tithe,” there will be “no yield left for the farmers and orchard owners” this year.
Naweed, an orchard owner in the Kishim district of Badakhshan province, told the Hasht-e Subh Daily that this year, in addition to wheat, the Taliban have demanded “Tithe” and “Zakat” from fresh fruits as well.
This distressed orchard owner added, “This year, one disaster was the rain that ruined half of my wheat and orchard crops. Now, another disaster is the Taliban’s tax, which they extort by force in the name of ‘Tithe.'”
He said that local Taliban officials in the Kishim district have warned farmers and orchard owners to pay their “Tithe” on wheat and orchard fruits on time.
Meanwhile, an employee of the Taliban’s Department of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock in Badakhshan, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Hasht-e Subh Daily that since the Taliban’s takeover, people are facing numerous economic challenges, yet the group forces farmers and orchard owners to pay “Tithe” and “Zakat.”
This employee added that despite the awareness of the Department of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock about the people’s, especially the farmers’ and orchard owners’ problems, the department, in coordination with the group’s Department of Religious Affairs, has compelled farmers and orchard owners to pay “Tithe” and “Zakat” and warned them of punishment if they do not comply.
He said, “Unfortunately, the Taliban do not have any specific structure or financial account for collecting ‘Tithe’ and ‘Zakat,’ and each representative forces people to pay ‘Tithe’ and ‘Zakat’ at their discretion.”
On the other hand, a knowledgeable source in the Taliban’s revenue department in Badakhshan province said that given the new exemption from the Ministry of Finance, even small businesses and farmers are not subject to taxation.
The source added, “In previous years, we used to collect taxes from farmers based on their total yield and from orchard owners based on their sales, which was calculated at 0.5 percent. Now, with the new exemption, no taxes should be collected from farmers and orchard owners under the name of ‘Tithe’ and ‘Zakat.'”
Badakhshan is a cold, mountainous, and inaccessible province in the northeast of the country where many of its residents live in poor economic conditions.
Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, they have started collecting “Tithe” and “Zakat” in addition to other heavy taxes, forcing farmers and orchard owners to deliver their seasonal products to local Taliban officials in the region where the harvest is collected.
You can read the Persian version of this daily report here:
کشاورزان بدخشان: طالبان با زور و تهدید از ما عشر و زکات میگیرند | روزنامه ۸صبح
