Sir: It is unfortunate to note that the fertilizer manufacturing industry, of an agricultural economy like Pakistan, has long been suffering due to the high rate of taxes being imposed on this sector. Higher taxes raise the cost of production, and reduce the price-competitiveness of locally produced fertilizers. The Government of Pakistan has also imposed a ‘Gas Infrastructure Development Cess’ (GIDC) – a special additional tax levied on various economic and industrial sectors. This tax is chargeable according to the amount of Natural-Gas consumed by each company. Therefore, the fertilizer sector, being the biggest consumer of natural gas in the country, is subjected to the highest rate of GIDC. This is an excessively heavy financial burden placed on the fertilizer companies, which are already paying billions of Rupees in taxes annually. According to the GIDC Legislation bill 2015; the revenues generated by the ‘Cess’ shall be utilized for development of large-scale Gas-infrastructure projects. The industry leaders have repeatedly expressed their concerns regarding the high rates of taxation on this key industry, whereby the country continues to lose out on various opportunities to export our fertilizers and earn precious foreign exchange. This way, dire consequences are being created by raising the cost of fertilizer production in the country. The government must provide better incentives to the fertilizer manufacturing industry, by lowering taxes, to maximize agricultural and industrial outputs and also enhance food-security. Pakistan is blessed with all the natural resources, fertile lands and suitable climatic conditions for robust agricultural productivity. Only if the farmers get urea at economical rates, they can achieve very high crop-yields. Thereby, Pakistan’s major export industries like; textiles, Sugar, flour, food-stuff, etc. will also prosper, due to their primary dependence on agriculture. So, the government must consider giving more support to the fertilizer sector, to reap great economic benefits and avoid the imports of costly fertilizer from abroad. MUHAMMAD SAGHEER Islamabad