LAHORE: The government is ready to withdraw the 12 and a half percent excise duty on newspaper advertisements if the newspaper owners provide the government with a formula to achieve revenue targets, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said on Sunday.

Addressing a seminar at a local hotel, Dar said a delegation of the All Pakistan Newspaper Society (APNS) led by Mir Shakilur Rahman met him on Friday and apprised him of their problems.

“Their opinion carried weight. They informed me that the advertising rates newspapers were offering to the government departments contained a concession of 70 percent to 75 percent compared to the rates offered to the private sector, and they don’t get paid for up to three to four years. APP

Source: Business Recorder

Date:6/21/1999