By Atia FarAzar
Several shopkeepers in Samangan province say that the Taliban municipality is imposing heavy taxes on merchants in Aybak city, despite their businesses suffering from low incomes and a lack of sales. Sometimes, Taliban militants are extorting them at gunpoint.
Abdullah*, who owns a grocery store in Aybak, the provincial capital, tells Zan Times that Taliban municipality officials visited stores last week, asking them to pay significantly higher taxes. “I used to pay a tax of 1,000 afghanis to the previous government, but this year the Taliban demanded a tax of 8,000 afghanis,” he explains.
When Abdullah attempted to explain to the Taliban that such a tax hike would be difficult as sales in his store are down dramatically due to increased levels of poverty and unemployment, the Taliban militants pointed their guns at him, telling him that they were arbitrarily raising his taxes even higher. Instead of 8,000 afghanis, they demanded a tax of 15,000 afghanis, so “you won’t interfere with our work again,” recounts Abdullah
City residents say the Taliban are abusing their power, knowing that residents have nowhere to complain. Shopkeeper Mohammad Tahir* says, “I am fed up with running a shop. On the one hand, there are no sales, on the other hand, we have to pay shop rent, the electricity bill, and now the Taliban are demanding back-breaking taxes.”
He states that shopkeepers have complained to the Taliban many times about the bad economic conditions of the market but were ignored. He also notes that in previous years, shopkeepers paid lower taxes even though their incomes were better; now, as the economy is collapsing, the Taliban have increased taxes.
The Taliban are demanding money from seemingly everyone. Recently, cart vendors in Kabul have been forced to pay protection money to Taliban militants. “Two gunmen had taken money from us two days ago,” Ibrahim*, a cart vendor told Zan Times in October. “In the evening, more came to take money but when we told them the others had taken the cash in the morning, one got angry and overturned our things. He hit me twice with the gun butt on my back, and then left.”
“We have been extorted during every era,” he said. When the previous government was in power, he noted that “we used to pay the police 20 afghanis daily. In the early months of the Taliban’s arrival, there was no extortion. We were relieved, but two months later, it began again. Currently, they receive 50-80 afghanis per cart.”
Businesses in the Ghor district have also been hit with new taxes. In October, Abdul Karim* told Zan Times that the Taliban demanded 100,000 afghanis in taxes from every narcotics factory in the district. That’s the equivalent of US$1,575. He says that shopkeepers have been taxed several times.
It’s not just business owners who are being handed big tax bills by the Taliban. Recently, the Taliban imposed a compulsory communal tax of 30,000 to 100,000 afghanis on the villages of Lal Sar Jangal district of Ghor province. A local resident told Zan Times that the Taliban collected 3,000 to 4,000 afghanis from each house in their village.
*Names have been changed to protect the identity of the interviewees.
