The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has lowered the tax rate for small businesses from 1.5 percent to 0.5 percent.The Ministry of Finance said in a statement Monday that the move would encourage small business owners to grow their businesses and that it would motivate unemployed people to start up businesses.According to the statement, the move would ultimately help reduce poverty levels and would increase economic growth of the country.The private sector welcomed the move, saying it would help small businesses flourish.Abdul Jabar Safi, head of the Afghanistan Industrialists Association, urged the government to also reduce taxes for factory and industry owners.
He said this would also increase the government's revenues as factory owners would not default on paying taxes if they were lowered.Last month, the IEA announced an exemption for small businesses that owed taxes and tax penalties.The post IEA lowers tax for small businesses first appeared on Ariana News.