Only a special commodity levy of Rs.60 is currently charged for imported dates per kilogram and no other tax is charged for dates, the DG said.

A total tax of Rs.130 was charged per kilogram of imported dates by 2015. It consisted of 15% Customs duty, 7.5% Ports and airport duty, 25% Cess tax, 11% VAT and 2% Nation Building tax.

All taxes for dates were abolished when prices of essential commodities were reduced on 20th November 2015after the Good Governance rule assumed office and, a special commodity tax of Rs.60 per kilogram was introduced instead. This enabled traders to import dates Rs.70 less than that of the price they paid earlier.

In addition, the government has already made necessary monetary allocations for respective ministries in lieu of the taxes they ought to pay for stocks of dates the country receive as donations from foreign countries to be distributed free during special religious events.

Participating in the parliament debate with regard to the special gazette notification dated November 21, 2016 in connection with the imposing of special commodity levy, although MP Sunil Handunnetti interpreted this as imposing new tax for dates, this is not imposing any new tax but further extension of the already reduced tax plan for dates maintaining since November 2015.